Migration is not featuring prominently during canvases of Dublin Central in advance of a byelection to fill the vacant Dáil seat in the constituency, the Social Democrats candidate Daniel Ennis has said.
Ennis, a Dublin city councillor for the area, said he could “count on one hand” the number of times it had come up, and when it did, it was often in a “positive light”, with a focus on integration and inclusion in the area.
“The north inner city in particular is one of the most diverse, eclectic mix of people anywhere to be found in the country,” he said. “You see people from all over the world here.”
Asked what he felt an appropriate level of immigration was, he said he preferred to “flip” the issue and talk about integration instead.
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“I want to see our community supported through integration, and then we can start having those questions posed,” he said, calling for more State supports for community inclusion and integration measures.
The Social Democrats councillor is expected to perform well in the byelection, with most commentators tipping him to be in the shake-up for the seat vacated by former minister for finance Paschal Donohoe, or even the early front-runner.
With Sinn Féin polling poorly ahead of the other byelection due later this month – Galway West – Ennis said he was not intimidated by the idea that the party could pour resources into the Dublin Central contest to secure a seat in its leader Mary Lou McDonald’s home patch.
Ennis was critical of plans to remove Mountjoy Square’s playground, basketball court and concrete football pitch envisaged as part of a regeneration scheme aiming to restore its original 18th century circular lawn and ornate footpath network.
The council has said the regeneration will help push back against antisocial behaviour and criminality in the area, but local sports clubs have called for the preservation of the facilities to meet the needs of local residents.
[ Rear of Mountjoy Square afterschool centre being used as a toiletOpens in new window ]
The Dublin city councillor said he was supportive of the plans except for the removal of the sports facilities. He said such facilities were being removed in the north inner city “across the board”.
“These pitches are lifesavers, they really are,” he said.
“I’ve heard other reps call these [pitches] concrete slabs. If it wasn’t for this concrete slab, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be in politics. Sport is so important to inner city communities… we have to stop removing these community spaces that bring young people together and save young people’s lives.”
He was speaking alongside local TD Gary Gannon and Kildare North TD Aidan Farrelly, spokesperson on children, at the launch of the party’s sports and culture policy in the central Dublin park.
The party is saying that if it were in government, it would raise the State’s betting tax from 2 per cent to 5 per cent to bring in another €165 million per year. This, he said, could fund sports capital grants in disadvantaged areas and create a €150 sports and cultural activity voucher for all children.
