Name: Tony Barrett
Address: Finglas
Dwelling: Terraced house
Here since: birth
I've lived in Finglas all my life. I used to live in Finglas west, in Casement Park, and I just moved down to the east, to Ballygall Road. I live in a terraced house which is about 70 years old. It's small, with three bedrooms and a lovely big back garden. It's got character. I'm really lucky to have it. Fortunately for me I could afford to move when I bought my house. A lot of people now can't.
I work with Dublin City Council, over in Cherry Orchard. I take the motorbike to work. I gave up the car about two years ago - the traffic was killer. I hate driving in it.
I'm two minutes from the village. Finglas is a gas place, but it really needs redevelopment, and they're making an ass of it, I think. They're going to drag the heart of Finglas village up to this new drive-in place, Charlestown Centre, that you'd see anywhere. It will be just like going to Blanchardstown. The commercial heart will suffer. Finglas should be a community-based village, really. If any of the local shops close, it would be a shame. That's the fear here.
People will stroll to the village on a Saturday, but I can't see them strolling up to the new place. They'd have to drive for a start. I don't think it will have that atmosphere. You'll just go and buy something and leave, that sort of drive-in mentality.
It can be hard to stay positive about Finglas all the time, because there are negatives here, the problems that everybody talks about. It's hard with young kids here because you know what's out there for them. Very few get to third-level education. A lot of them have their futures mapped out for them, and there's no net catching these kids. It's left totally to the community to deal with, and it's hard. Where do you start? The Government doesn't want to know. We're not a priority.
There's a record shop, the Music Box, which is really important for the village. It's a centre for people, and it also it sells Spiral's stuff. I've met Spiral [the 2006 Big Brother contestant and DJ] a couple of times. I love the fact that he's giving a positive face to the area. It's great to have characters like that saying, 'I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't do drugs'. The area would be fond of him, alright. I hope Spiral is going to be judged by what he's done on Big Brother, but he'll also be judged on his record, which is Spiral's slant on things. He's honest. There's guys like him all over the place, and he is representative of some of the people in Finglas. The music's not my style, to be honest, I like the Clash, while these kids like Tupac.
• In conversation with Davin O'Dwyer