Hi °C | Lo °C PROMOTING integration in the community where tragic teenager Toyosi Shittabey was knifed to death will be the best tribute to the slain schoolboy, councillors have said.
Fingal County Council is to convene a meeting in Tyrrelstown to discuss the provision of better facilities "to assist interculturalism and a cohesive community".
A minute's silence was observed at the council's monthly meeting, where councillors condemned the killing, expressing their horror and outrage.
Standing orders were suspended to discuss a joint motion tabled by Socialist Party councillors Ruth Coppinger, Matt Waine and Clare Daly.
The motion called for the provision of community facilities where "residents of all backgrounds can meet together", as well as open space for the area and the reinstatement of a dedicated youth worker.
Cllr Coppinger said Toyosi's death had raised issues regarding integration in Tyrrelstown, which, with 50pc of its population made up of foreign nationals, was "possibly the most ethnically diverse place in Ireland".
She said the area had a massive infrastructural deficit.
"The spirit of the community in Tyrrelstown is very strong and united, but that is not to say we can be complacent," Cllr Coppinger said.
"If we can't provide community facilities for the area, we may be storing up problems for the future."
She said the council could pay tribute to Toyosi by using his death for the good of the area he had been growing up in.
Cllr Waine said the killing had "struck him to the core" and that everybody's wish was to see justice prevail.
Cllr Kieran Dennison (Lab) said he had been to the family home to offer his condolences and it had seemed "no different to an Irish wake".
But by the middle of the week, he said the house seemed to have "turned into the head office for a protest movement", which he "found unseemly".
Cllr Patrick Nulty (Lab) paid tribute to Toyosi's family and friends. He said: "They have shown leadership and incredible humility in difficult times."
Mayor Ciaran Byrne (Lab) said he did not believe social deprivation was a factor in the killing.
"This is one of a series of knife killings that have become endemic in our society," he said.
The motion was passed and the council is to convene a meeting with residents' representatives, community and school leaders.
aphelan@herald.ie
