A three-year roadmap has been unveiled for Dublin’s North East Inner City, aimed at continuing to regenerate the often unfairly negatively depicted area of the city. The area has been dealing with significant levels of crime for a number of years, including a series of gangland murders.
€6.5 million in funding was pumped into the area this year allowing an inclusion health hub and a ten-bed residential unit for people with addiction issues to open.
A strategic plan towards 2022 includes continuing efforts to reduce crime in the district, reopening Fitzgibbon street garda station, increasing employment opportunities for locals, offering more services to people who misuse drugs
Minister for Finance and local TD Paschal Donohue spoke at the launch of the 3rd annual progress report on the area. ‘It is work that is making a difference. As always there is much that needs to be done, but we are achieving much and we are hungry to even achieve more.”
Michael Stone who heads up the programme implementation board says they’re always looking at garda numbers – and says 16 probation officers have arrived into the area this week.
He says gardaí helped address an anti-social blackspot at Liberty Park this year; ‘So we kitted the gardaí out with push bikes because there was dealing going on with push bikes. We moved that on and cleaned up that whole area. You now have local people, children playing in the park.”
Dublin footballer Michael Darragh MacAuley is a community and sports engagement manager with the programme; ‘It easy to kinda get involved in activities that you shouldn’t be getting involved in. We’re trying to get that message out to people because maybe some of the young people don’t know how many things are going on down here in terms of sport, in terms of activites.”
