Living Our Rights - A Report by South Dublin Residents - 2023

Living Our Rights

building capacity to address human rights failures and inequalities in South Dublin County

This project has received funding from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Grants Scheme as part of the Commission’s statutory power to provide grants to promote human rights and equality under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.

Executive summary

During 2021 and 2022 the Rights Platform in partnership with St. Kevin’s Family Resource Centre and North Clondalkin Community Development Project implemented a project to highlight and address human rights issues in South Dublin County, raising awareness of human rights and building local capacity to pursue and attain fundamental human rights. The project was set within the context of section 42(1) of the Public Sector Duty of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act (2014) which obliges public bodies to identify and address human rights and equality issues within their remit.

The project was funded by a grant from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and was assisted by Participation and Practice of Rights (PPR).

The Rationale

The human rights framework adopted by the project endorses human rights as being about living a life of dignity - having an adequate income, a secure home, access to healthcare, benefit from education and access to life chances.

If people are living in poverty, experiencing disadvantage and social exclusion this amounts to a denial of human rights. Participation in decision making is therefore an intrinsic element in achieving these rights

Human rights are guaranteed in human rights law. Government and its agencies and contracted bodies – HSE, Local Authorities, Education and Training Boards and other public service providers or programme implementors etc. – are obliged to protect and progress these human rights.

A key focus is that the Public Sector Duty requires public bodies to identify human rights and equality issues relative to their function and to set out in their strategic plans how they will address these issues.

The Project

Despite state obligations, human rights have always had to be demanded, and that means raising awareness and building capacity. This project set out to do this at local level, focusing on areas in South Dublin County with high levels of deprivation, including Cushlawn, Glenshane and Balgaddy. The key actions aimed to:

• Raise awareness of human rights and identify potential participants

• Create a team to undertake a survey in each area using peer research methods

• Identify the human rights issues in the area

• Feed the findings back to each community and to the relevant statutory agencies and authorities

• Develop a plan of action to compel agencies, authorities and contracted bodies to meet their human rights obligations

The project was delivered via locally led research carried out by community organisers from the targeted areas, as such it is both action-focused in terms of progressing the emerging priorities, emancipatory in terms of its intent, and empowering in terms of the applied methodologies.

The findings

Participation:

• The sense of non-involvement in decision making stands out strongly – 90% say they were not at all involved in decisions about essential services provided by the Irish government and its agencies and authorities, including South Dublin County Council as the local government authority

• Levels of support from representatives of duty bearers were very low – particularly elected representatives and Garda

Housing:

• A third of people said their homes were overcrowded

• Mould, condition and repairs were big issues

Health:

• Half of respondents said they or a member of their household were disabled/or had a chronic illness

• Over half of respondents said access to GP services was difficult or very difficult. Two thirds said access to mental health services were difficult or very difficult

Young people:

• Roughly half of respondents thought that facilities for young people were difficult or very difficult to access

• More than three quarters of respondents said they didn’t feel their area was safe for children and young people

• Youth clubs, playgrounds and community facilities came out as poor, or of poor quality

Discrimination:

• The majority of people surveyed had experienced or witnessed a discriminatory incident, including racism and hate

Poverty:

• Over half of respondents said employment opportunities were difficult or very difficult

• Over 70% of respondents said they had to go without essentials at least once in the last 6 months

• 68% of respondents said they never or hardly ever have disposable income

Education:

• More than eight in ten people said access to schools in their area was ok or easy. There were 15 respondents who said access to schools was difficult or very difficult in their area. They all came from either Balgaddy or Cushlawn

• Regarding quality of local schools, more than one in seven people reported they were good or excellent

• People reported feeling most supported by teachers

Roughly 40% of those surveyed said they would continue to be involved in the project.

This project has received funding from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Grants Scheme as part of the Commission’s statutory power to provide grants to promote human rights and equality under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.

The partner organisations

The Rights Platform is made up of local community and voluntary groups who have a focus on eradicating poverty and social exclusion across the South Dublin area. The Platform is a community network, aimed at building a collective voice that increases participation on structures with responsibility for tackling social exclusion and promoting participative local development and regeneration.

The Platform has a specific anti-poverty and equality focus which ensures that the needs and concerns of groups such as people with disabilities, those parenting alone, families living with drug issues, those on an inadequate income, women, Travellers and Roma, migrants, asylum seekers and homeless families among others are represented at local, county and national level.

The main areas of work of The Rights Platform include:

• Networking social inclusion organisations in the county

• Developing initiatives that promote anti-poverty and equality issues

• Enabling and supporting representation on local authority and regional agency structures

• Monitoring and influencing the implementation of national and local policy and delivery

North Clondalkin Community Development Project (NCCDP) supports community participants to address severe cumulative deprivation in public housing estates in Clondalkin, supporting residents to organise and seek solutions to matters of crime, poverty, urban decay, poor quality housing, unemployment and the social isolation of migrant families.

This work includes documenting disadvantage and working with local authorities/agencies to advance identified priorities.

NCCDP works closely with organisations working for human rights and social inclusion in the Clondalkin area, and with groups within the wider county area, to address the needs of women, Travellers, migrant families and other marginalised groups, working through community development processes to build participation and community empowerment. This work is implemented on a coordinated basis through collaborations with groups focused on social and economic rights, and through NCCDP’s active membership of the Public Participation Network (PPN).

St. Kevin’s Family Resource Centre provides a range of supports and services to families and the community, including early years education, counselling, play therapy, family support as well as providing support to community groups and community leaders. The values of the organisation are based on community work values of respect, empowerment and the progression and implementation of anti-racist and anti-discriminatory practice.

St. Kevin’s Family Resource Centre supports families and communities by organising local services that are accessible and meeting the needs of the community. The organisation also identifies and supports community leaders to address the root causes of social exclusion and poverty.

St. Kevin’s Family Resource Centre is an active member of the community sector locally, regionally and nationally and participates in a range of networks including:

• South Dublin Public Participation Network (PPN)

• The Rights Platform

• National Forum of Family Resource Centres

• National Separation Network

The Project

During 2021 and 2022 the Rights Platform in partnership with St. Kevin’s Family Resource Centre and North Clondalkin Community Development Project implemented a project to raise awareness of human rights, build local capacity and highlight and address human rights issues in South Dublin County. The project was assisted by the Participation and Practice of Rights (PPR) organisation, a body with a significant expertise in building campaigns in pursuit of human rights for communities.

The project sought to address endemic poverty and social exclusion in a number of disadvantaged areas in South Dublin County. The rationale behind the project being that many social, economic and cultural (ESC) rights that would assist or deliver anti-poverty and social inclusion objectives are not sufficiently demanded by rights holders nor robustly applied by duty holders.

Over a sustained period, the project worked with communities to identify key human rights issues, design a survey for application in target areas to assist the formulation of priorities and then link these to economic, social and cultural rights instruments that the state is duty bound to implement. This was done in a series of workshops and will culminate in an action plan developed to pursue the identified rights.

A key element of the survey was the participation of local community participants in the project from its conception, including the design and implementation of the survey – a parallel intent being to develop leadership capacity, thus ensuring the sustainability and ongoing development of the overall project.

The expected outcomes of the project include a raised awareness among community activists of key social and economic rights as they apply to everyday life, together with the accumulation of skills and organizational capability to pursue these rights.

Ambitions

The project set out to raise awareness that economic and social rights are directly related to the social exclusion experienced by families and communities within the targeted areas. The project intended to achieve this by participatory means, including the mentoring of community activists to develop the skills and motivational capacity to take on leadership roles in the community, as well as the active participation of other community participants in the actions of the project: the intent being that these leaders will act as multipliers for greater community participation and engagement.

The project initiated work on key areas identified by communities, such as housing and health, which will inform existing and future project work focused on such issues. Previous experience accumulated as part of the Community Action Network (CAN) Collective Complaint to the Committee of the European Social Charter and the Public Sector Duty of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act (2014) will also inform and benefit the project.

The project will link participants into essential networks such as the PPN - thus ensuring that human rights is firmly stitched into its working paradigm - and into the Rights Platform where participants can be supported, share experiences and be part of wider local and national strategies.

The project hopes to influence the objectives of the Public Sector Duty and to advance its implementation by the local authority and other public bodies delivering actions and services in the county.

Aim

The overall aim of the project is to develop awareness within disadvantaged communities of their social and economic rights as they apply to their daily lives, in particular their interactions with statutory providers and authorities. The project hopes to demonstrate that the exercise and application of these rights can impact on levels of poverty and social exclusion over time.

A parallel aim is to build community leadership by engaging identified activists in the initial work of the project (the survey) and, by supporting their continued involvement in actions, to build their capacity to progress and sustain the work undertaken by the project to its completion.

Objectives

The objectives of the project were to:

• Ensure the participation of two community participants from each of 4 areas targeted to participate in the design and implementation of the initial survey in each of the targeted areas, to process the data collected and list the main themes emerging.

• Develop community leadership capability to identify and analyse the main policy and regulatory documents relative to the themes identified in the survey – with particular focus on the Public Sector Duty plans and objectives of statutory agencies and authorities.

• Produce accessible material for circulation, discussion and action and ensure the engagement of local community participants in the community workshops/action groups in each area (face-to-face or by remote means). Ensure that community participants are familiar with the material and gain the capacity to discuss and agree strategies for implementation.

• Develop a core group of at least 8 leaders/ activists capable of sustaining the follow-through work of the project in seeking fulfilment of the objectives set in the workshops. To mentor these leaders in the rudiments of human rights and community development approaches and techniques and ensure support, continuity and future development by their inclusion in wider community development and human rights networks.

Project focus

The project is aimed at communities experiencing cumulative disadvantage - the accumulation of poverty, restricted life chances and separation from decision making that is defined as social exclusion – who are over represented in the populations of the selected areas. It is expected that the benefits from the project will accrue to the totality of the populations in areas of disadvantage.

More specifically the project focused in on a small number of residents who have already displayed leadership potential, however it was also intended that others will be drawn into the project via those initially identified through the processes and implementation of the project.

Approach, key actions and expected outcomes

We will carry out the project in coordination with our project partners whose primary work is supporting neighbourhood community actions and thus have a unique understanding of local contexts. The Rights Platform will ensure complementarity by providing strategic capacity to the pre-existing expertise of our partner organisations.

The key actions are the community surveys, which will identify the generative themes in each area and through which we will select those that fit within the economic and social rights matrix, together with preparatory profiling of the project in each area. Through the project profiling we will consolidate the participation of the initially identified community leaders, and any other potential participants identified through this action.

The outcomes will be an awareness of the project and its ambitions, a clear sense of community priorities, the endorsement of the community and the participation of community activists in the work of the project.

The processing of this information and the interrogation of human rights instruments and regulatory frameworks will be the next action. This will be a desk-based activity drawing on existing and fresh information using the expertise of project partners and pre-existing external sources.

The outcomes will include an accumulation of information required to set a clear action pathway for the project, the establishment of a set of flanking support sources and a growing understanding by community activists of human rights approaches.

The next action is the development and implementation of the action strategy in the target areas. It is expected that there will be an accumulation of learning and a necessary adaptation to local contexts demonstrating the importance of community participation.

The anticipated outcomes will be progressed in the application of the economic and social rights objectives set by statutory agencies and authorities, the generation/enhancement of community activism and skills capacity for action-based approaches to social exclusion.

The final action will be the evaluation, report compilation and presentation of the project work and its achievements in order to maximise the impact on duty bearers.

Key outcomes will include increased demand on statutory bodies to vigorously respond to social exclusion and ESC rights failures at local/regional level in accordance with the expectations of the Public Sector Duty, a robust and informed community sector and some innovative learning for the broader social inclusion and human rights sector.

Chronology of actions

September – December 2021: Initial meeting of the Project Steering Group to discuss, agree and initiate the programme implementation plan. A key opening element will be to profile the project in the selected areas and to seek the engagement of the potential leaders in this exercise.

January – April 2022: Assemble the survey teams. Design and implement the community survey, initially conducting the survey in one area to test the survey questions and the methodology. Continue with survey across the remaining areas.

May – June 2022: Process the results of the survey and suggested priorities from the findings in the workshops. Begin to research policy and regulation material pertaining to the identified priorities. Identifying relevant human rights instruments and regulations appropriate to the identified priorities.

September – October 2022: Feed survey findings back to each of the relevant communities in an accessible form, linking them to statutory regulations and to appropriate human rights texts and instruments. Seek support to implement actions in pursuit of agreed selected priorities.

November 2022: Form action groups in each of the target areas and develop and implement a plan of action on one of the selected priorities (at least two different priorities will be selected across the 4 areas). The action groups will be the key mentoring mechanism for raising the skills and knowledge capacity of the potential community leaders/activists. A key element will be signposting the imminence of the findings using social media channels.

November – December 2022: Evaluate the outcomes of the project in a published report, including an assessment of the impact against agreed indicators and set out the potential for the continuance of the project’s work.

The follow through on the strategy after the completion of the project, which will include baselines, the setting of agreed indicators and the continuous monitoring and recording of statutory performance, will be an essential component outcome of the project.

Dissemination of learning

The evaluation report of the project will be circulated to relevant agencies and authorities and to other interested parties within South Dublin County.

A presentation of the main points from the project evaluation report, followed by discussion will be made at a public launch (or webinar). A press release and an expected call for an article from the local newspaper will be anticipated following a prompt through the PPN.

The Executive Summary together with the link to the full report will be circulated nationally via community related newsletters (European Anti-Poverty Network, Wheel etc.)

The report will be posted on the websites of the Rights Platform, the Public Participation Network (PPN) and the project partner organisations. The main outcomes and a link to the full report will be circulated on Twitter and Facebook

Video material will be available on the Rights Platform web page and Facebook.

In addition, a short video presentation will be produced and posted on You Tube outlining the project, its objectives, the implementation process and the outcomes, impact and future potential.

The Findings

A Summary

The survey was compiled and undertaken by community organisers during the autumn of 2021 and spring and summer of 2022. The survey focused on areas of Tallaght and Clondalkin, including Cushlawn, Glenshane, Jobstown, Tymon North, Fettercairn and Balgaddy. The purpose of the survey was to find out more about the issues people in these areas were facing. Organisers spent time talking to people. This report sets out what they found.

Who took part?

In total, the survey received 108 responses.

Most people who took part in the survey live in social housing (84%). Just under 10% rent from a private landlord.

Housing Tenure

Half of the people who community organisers spoke to were living with someone who was disabled or had a chronic condition.

Living with someone who is disabled or has a chronic condition

50%

This shows half of the people surveyed were supporting a family member because of disability or ill-health

People told organisers about a whole range of issues that were affecting their lives. These included:

• Living conditions

• Housing standards

• Mental and physical health and care

• Addiction

• Education

• Leisure

• Security

Human Rights

What do human rights have to do with any of this?

• Human rights laws are a rulebook for the Irish Government and Irish public authorities like South Dublin County Council.

• Human rights laws set out how people should expect to be treated by the Irish Government and Irish public authorities.

• Human rights laws apply to lots of different areas including housing, health, income and participation - the issues which people talked about in the survey.

• Human rights laws set out certain standards for everyone which governments must meet.

We’ve included human rights standards from international law and from Irish law in this report for reference.

Housing

What people said about housing

Quotes from the survey

“Currently living in mother’s home, I sleep with my 2 children in 1 room my sister has her child in her room”

Housing findings

• Almost a third said their home was overcrowded – 4 out of 5 of these had children under 18 at home

• Only slightly over one third felt their accommodation met the needs of their household

• 22% were on the waiting list. Of these, 40% had been waiting between 4 and 6 years and another 22% between 1 and 3 years.

• Just over half felt their home was in good condition.

• More than one in three people felt their living conditions negatively impacted their physical health. For mental health the figure was one in four.

• Over a third said they lacked an effective heating system.

• Over half reported damp and/or mould.

• Three out of five reported difficulty getting repairs.

“I share a room with my brothers and it’s hard to study”

“I still live with my parents at age 35, will never be housed by council”

What human rights says about housing conditions

“Adequate housing must be habitable, in terms of providing the inhabitants with adequate space and protecting them from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind or other threats to health, structural hazards, and disease vectors. The physical safety of occupants must be guaranteed.”

CESCR General Comment on the right to housing 4

What Irish law says about housing conditions

Overcrowding

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 (No. 22 of 2009)

Poor conditions

Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (updated to June 2022) section 12(1)b(i) outdoor repairs per Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 section 18 [standards for rented houses - can be set by Minister - stipulates only that “a proper state of structural repair” means essentially sound, with roof, floors, ceilings, walls and stairs in good repair and not subject to serious dampness or liable to collapse because they are rotted or otherwise defective.”

12(1)b(ii) indoor “repairs and replacement of fittings as are, from time to time, necessary so that that interior and those fittings are maintained in, at least, the condition in which they were at the commencement of the tenancy and in compliance with any such standards for the time being prescribed”

Ministry for Housing, Planning and Local Government, S.I. No. 137/2019 - Housing (Standards For Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 - private + (ish) housing authority /body

4.2 ‘a proper state of structural repair’ = “sound, internally and externally, with roof, roofing tiles and slates, windows, floors, ceilings, walls, stairs, doors, skirting boards, fascia, tiles on any floor, ceiling and wall, gutters, down pipes, fittings, furnishings, gardens and common areas maintained in good condition and repair and not defective due to dampness or otherwise”

4.3 window restrictors. 4.4 pest control 5. plumbing 6. heating (each room must have heat emitter / appliance / system ‘capable of providing effective heating’) 7 food & laundry [varies private/social]. 8 ventilation 8.1 every room used, or intended for use, by the tenant of the house as a habitable room shall have adequate ventilation 8.2 All means of ventilation shall be maintained in good repair and working order 8.3 adequate ventilation shall be provided for the removal of water vapour from every kitchen and bathroom 9 lighting 10 fire safety 11 refuse/vermin 12 gas, oil, electric.

What the local council says about living conditions

Overcrowding

Citizens’ Info HAP page: once you are housed & receiving HAP you are taken off the local authority’s housing waiting list - they consider you housed. You may still apply to be on the (separate) transfer list. The waiting list is a ‘record of qualified households’ - there is a minimum income level (below HAP). Transfer list info is here

Poor conditions

Citizens’ Info: “Local authorities (in their role as housing authorities) are responsible for enforcing these minimum standards in rented accommodation”, both HAP recipients (within 8 months of 1st pymt) and not (scheduled visits (?))

• Only during office hours except in emergency cases / to ‘make safe’ before further ‘in-hours’ repairs

• only in urgent/emergency cases for people in rent arrears

• tenants are responsible for non-structural repairs themselves

• explicitly says, ‘condensation’ isn’t their problem

• multiple other conditions

Health

What people said about health services

• 55% of people said access to a GP surgery was very difficult or difficult.

• 67% of people said access to mental health services was very difficult or difficult.

• A disproportionate number of these (nearly 60%) were from Cushlawn.

• 64% said they felt their GP service was poor or very poor.

People also told community organisers how worried they were about drugs and substance misuse. They didn’t think there was enough support available for people who had addiction issues.

48% of people said access to addiction services was very difficult or difficult.

Of these, as with access to mental health services, a disproportionately large number (six out of ten) live in Cushlawn.

Quotes

What does human rights say about health services?

• Everyone has the right to enjoy the “highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”

• This is not a right to be healthy. It’s about being able to get the right kind of care when you need it.

• There should be enough health services for everyone when they need them.

• Health services should be accessible to everyone without discrimination.

• People should be able to access regular screening programmes, appropriate treatment, essential drugs and appropriate mental health treatment & care.

What does Irish law say about health?

The Health Service Executive sets out policy on access to healthcare in the National Healthcare Charter: You and Your Health Services

These are the standards which the health service is expected to meet. It is worth comparing local people’s experiences to these detailed charter standards.

There is very little information about local standards in relation to addiction services.

“There is drug dealing where young children are playing”

“There is drug dealing, joyriding and lack of support from people in power to help with these issues”

“Nowhere for teenagers, a lot of young people doing drugs”

Poverty

What did people say about having enough income?

• 58% of people (from all 3 areas equally) said access to employment opportunities was difficult or very difficult.

• Half of people said they could “usually afford basics like heat, food, clothes, transport and health care”.

• But over one in ten people said they could hardly ever or never afford these.

• Nearly three quarters said they had had to do without these at some point in the last six months.

• Nearly half never had disposable income left over to take part in social activities.

What does human rights say about an adequate income?

Human rights law says that governments need to make sure that everyone has enough income to afford basic necessities, with support available for families, children and disabled people. That can include making sure that social security payments are high enough to cover people’s costs.

“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions”

Intl Covenant on Economic and Social Rights Art. 11.1

“States Parties … shall take appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible for the child to implement this right and shall in case of need provide material assistance and support programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing”

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Art 27.3

What people said about having their voices heard

• Nine out of ten people reported feeling wholly excluded from decision making by South Dublin County Council and the Irish Government, across all areas from budgets to safety to housing matters and beyond.

• 90% of people never feel listened to or included by any public authority. This is a damning indictment in a democracy

• The group people reported feeling most supported by was teachers; the least, local elected representatives.

What human rights says about having your voice heard

Human rights laws say that everyone should have the right to participate in the decisions which affect their lives - on big matters and on small.

“Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity…(a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives; (b) To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors; (c) To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country”

Irish law and policy also sets out that people should be included in decisions about their lives and their areas.

Safety

What people said about feeling safe Quotes

“Antisocial behaviour leaves me in fear as I’m a single mother”

“The Council and the Gardai are not allocating enough resources to get rid of anti-social behaviour and drugs trade”

“Kicking doors in, trying to smash windows, scraping cars, breaking mirrors”

• Less than half of people agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I feel safe in my home”

• 60% of people disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, “I feel safe in communal areas around my home”

• Nearly 60% had witnessed hate crime or racism, most frequently verbal abuse or physical assault.

What does human rights law say about feeling safe?

Human rights laws say that everyone has the right to be safe. This includes a duty on public authorities to do something if someone is in danger of being hurt.

All human rights laws apply to everyone without discrimination.

That means that no one should experience violence or abuse because of their identity, whether this is about their age, race, gender or their disability, or because they are LGBTQ+.

What does Irish law say about feeling safe?

These rights are also protected under Ireland’s human rights and equality laws. These laws place duties on public authorities like the Council and the police to make sure they treat everyone without discrimination. They also ask public authorities to think about the impact of their decisions on different communities to make sure they are being fair.

Education

What people said about education (Note: the focus is on local primary and second level schools)

Education was one of the most positive areas of the survey. Children’s right to education is one of the human rights areas which was most respected.

This is probably not an area which needs to be monitored for human rights compliance at the present time.

• More than eight in ten people said access to schools in their area was ok or easy.

• There were 15 respondents who said access to schools was difficult or very difficult in their area. They all came from either Balgaddy or Cushlawn.

• Regarding quality of local schools, more than one in seven people reported they were good or excellent.

• The profession that people reported feeling most supported by was teachers.

adequate income and a secure home