Enda Kenny defends visit to Dublin’s north inner city

The Taoiseach has accused Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams of politicising the problems of Dublin's north inner city following the visit the Taoiseach made with ministerial colleagues to the area on Tuesday night.

Enda Kenny said he was sorry that Mr Adams had taken a political line when referring to the visit.

He also rejected Mr Adams's assertion that Fine Gael and the Government were not geared towards dealing with social disadvantage.

“I was very pleased to see all of the public representatives who were there last night, who chose to listen to the people and the community leaders in the north inner city,’’ Mr Kenny said.

The Sinn Féin leader had said that if Mr Kenny was to deliver on the rhetoric of the visit, the starting point would be acknowledging the Government was not geared towards eradicating social and economic disadvantage.

“Fine Gael is not geared towards ending inequality and poverty,’’ he said.

"It is your policies, and the policies of Fianna Fáil, that have created a deeply unequal society.''

‘Decades of neglect’

Mr Adams said the situation in the north inner city was the result of decades of neglect by governments, including the previous government.

Mr Adams said there were communities across the State and the island facing the same issues of social deprivation, economic disadvantage and the lack of opportunity.

Mr Kenny said Ministers had been told what needed to be done by “real people’’ during the visit and that he intended to meet with public representatives from the area on Monday to hear their priorities.

“I am not going to make a political football out of this, Deputy Adams,’’ he said.