“WE need action, not announcements, substance not spin. Above all we need more local authority housing.”
These were the words of Sinn Fein councillor John Costelloe, speaking after last Wednesday’s presentation by Junior Housing Minister Damien English in which he outlined details of the new plans by the Government to address the housing and homelessness crisis.
Cllr Costelloe has condemned what he calls “spin over substance” in the Government’s new Housing Action Plan, while declaring Fine Gael as “a party for the landlord class”.
“Minister Damien English was the third minister for housing to come to Lord Edward Street in the last two years to make the same announcement over new houses. We need action, not announcements, substance not spin. Above all we need more local authority housing,” the City North representative declared.
“Government plans do make some attempt to address the crisis, but are undermined by the deep ideological flaw within Fine Gael which insists that the solution to the housing shortage lies with the free market and further incentives to private landlords and corporate property companies.
“We now know that three out of every four new social houses will be delivered via state subsidised private rental houses. This is effectively writing a series of blank cheques to private and corporate landlords. It was significant that the Ministers panel had a representative for auctioneers but no-one speaking on behalf of tenants.”
Cllr Costelloe feels an over reliance on the private sector to meet the needs of those locked out of the private housing market lies at the very heart of our housing and homelessness crisis.
“Yet despite all the evidence Minister Coveney is unwilling to abandon this contradictory and discredited approach. The only long-term solution to the housing crisis is for local authorities to go back to building houses. But this reality doesn’t suit Fine Gael, who are a party for the Landlord class.”
by Alan Jacques
