I agree with Senator Craughwell's observations.

This week, former Secretary General of the Department of Health, Robert Watt, was appointed to lead the Dublin City Regeneration Authority. The authority was established as a result of the findings of the Dublin city task force, which put forward ten key steps to revive the city centre of Dublin. The report made clear the extent of the neglect of our capital city by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and made recommendations that are glaringly obvious for people living in the inner city who are confronted by dereliction and crime every single day. I hope Robert Watt's appointment is a positive move and will lead to the authority finally delivering for the people of Dublin. Results are desperately needed in the inner city, which has struggled with chronic underinvestment for decades.

That said, the task force report was first published 18 months ago and so far nothing has come of it. There is a very real risk that these recommendations never leave the paper they are printed on. Big announcements are this Government's speciality but, unfortunately, delivery is not. One example is the refusal by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to meet the residents of Pearse House, which is undergoing deep retrofitting. Unfortunately, it is not regeneration but it should be. The Minister will also not meet residents of the Irish Glass Bottle Site Housing Action Group in Ringsend, which is disappointing.

Robert Watt will be on a salary of €280,000, which is astronomical compared to the average wage in the inner city. There is a cruel irony in such a large salary being handed out when the actions of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made life so unaffordable for ordinary people in the city. The Government has allowed the cost of living to balloon out of control and is failing to deliver affordable housing or childcare. It is also choosing to hike rents significantly for Dublin City Council tenants. The regeneration of Dublin city centre has moved at a snail's pace and key places in our city, like O'Connell Street and College Green, desperately need investment, ambition and delivery for the public.

The south inner city has countless areas in need of regeneration, in particular Pearse Street and the flat complexes from Ringsend to Cuffe Street. These parts of the city urgently need the attention of Dublin City Council and the Government.

Dublin cannot afford to let this opportunity to slip by. I ask that the Minister come here to discuss the regeneration of flat complexes in the city and support communities that have been neglected for decades.