Gary Gannon, the Social Democrats’ candidate, said he understood issues surrounding crime because of his inner-city childhoodThe Social Democrats launched their general election campaign yesterday at the junction of Sean McDermott Street and Buckingham Street in Dublin’s north inner-city — the “very spot that has defined my politics in many ways”, said Gary Gannon, a party candidate. Mr Gannon, a councillor, grew up in the now-demolished Mountain View Court flats in nearby Summerhill. He told The Times that the spot, marked by the Home Statue, was close to where heroin “first penetrated the inner-city” in the 1970s. “It was also the first place where communities began to fight back,” he said. St Joseph’s Mansions, now-demolished flats which once stood next to the junction, were “ground zero” for drugs in Dublin, he added.

Source: The Times January 17, 2020 00:06 UTC