TO STREETS OF PAIN
sess while also being aware of sadder, tragic stories.
Suicides are on the rise here. He’s felt this. A close friend lost his father who took his own life.
“That leaves a trauma,”he says.“And there’s too much trauma in this area, too many families scarred by a tragedy that happened in a previous generation. We can stop it. At the very least we must try.”
Dreams
He dreams of bringing hope back to this area and he isn’t the only one.
On our walk we bump into Paul Perth, his predecessor as Longford Town’s centre-back.
“Alri’ Garts?” Perth says.
“What’s happening, Paul?”
The two men hug.
Perth and Richie Dunne were neighbours in Killinarden, another area of Tallaght. Now Perth works as a community officer in the area. He loves his job, loves the people but hates when he sees young people without hope. His mission is to give them some.
“Suicide deeply disturbs me,” Perth tells Gartland.
“And it should disturb every politician in the land. They should read this and ask, ‘right what can be done?’”
This is Gartland: “When we grew up there was hope. My sister could go to Trinity; Robbie (Keane) could go to Wolves; I got to go to Barnsley; homes were affordable. People could stay here, get a job, buy their own place. Now they can’t because there aren’t enough affordable houses.
“This area needs help. It’s not just a case of build a playground; it’s a case of build it, open it, let the kids into it, but employ the locals to maintain it. Give them ownership of it.
“Don’t just build something, and leave it. Empower locals. Local football teams...give them grants for pitches, dressing rooms, coaches. Help the next generation.
“Want to know the reality about growing up in a working class area as opposed to a middle class one?
“You enter the same race but when the starting pistol sounds, we have hurdles to jump and they have a straight run at the line.
Trouble
“If a working class kid from here goes to college, and then discovers halfway through their first term that they chose the wrong course, there is no way out. They’ve paid the fees. They wouldn’t be able to afford to pay for a new set.
“The thing about growing up here was this: if you wanted trouble, you could find it. But if you wanted to be a success, nothing would stop you.
“Your brother (he points at Perth) was at Longford when I was starting
MAKING IT TO THE TOP: Gartland played in the Champions League qualifiers with Drogheda 16 years ago out. He stood up in front of the dressing room and said ‘Garts will make it. That fella has something in him’. That was Tallaght sticking up for Tallaght. That’s what a community is.
“We all needed someone to pull us up by our bootlaces. This is a great place, a brilliant community. But invest in us, believe in us. Don’t turn your back on us. Look at the footballers, the business people we’ve produced. We can do that again and again and again.
“But build affordable houses for us to live in. Build up the support services to stop suicides. Rebuild the playgrounds. Help the soccer clubs. Help us because we aren’t just missing out on the next footballer, we are losing out on the next doctor or someone who can be guidance counsellor. Give us something to aspire to.”
Only then can they turn these streets of pain back into fields of dreams.