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| Ireland: Housing “Catastrophe” – No Longer “Crisis”![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Irish Parliament (Dáil) votes 36-60 to reject a Sinn Féin bill which aimed to insert a constitutional right to housing.This time last year we learnt that one in every five TDs (public representatives in the Irish Dáil [parliament]) – are actually landlords (“30 of Ireland’s 158 TDs are landlords. That includes at least four out of 15 of the current Cabinet.” Global Rights, May, 2018) “The question, of course that follows, in a country that seems to have an enormous problem with either controlling the housing (or any other) market (or property developers themselves, or the banks or other “powerful” groups within society): is there a conflict of interest? At the same time, due to its inability (or unwillingness) to provide social housing for “its” people, the Irish state paid almost €700 million to private landlords to house a portion of those forced to find housing in the private market. “This is a massive transfer of public money to private landlords,” Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said, earlier in the year. ...As for a Right to Housing As part of the National Homeless and Housing Coalition, Sinn Féin called for a referendum to enshrine a right to housing in the Constitution, introducing the bill to the Dáil to coincide with last Saturday’s planned Raise the Roof rally in Dublin city centre. Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Deputy Eoin Ó Broin in his introduction: “The Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Right to a Home) Bill... seeks to insert in the Constitution, this State's foundational law, a right to adequate, appropriate, secure, safe and, crucially, affordable housing. It also seeks to place an obligation on the State to ensure the realisation of that right through its laws and policies in accordance with the principles of social justice. This proposition was endorsed by 84% of the people involved in the Constitutional Convention in 2014. It is a right that exists in many jurisdictions, including Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, to name just a few. If passed, it would not guarantee every person in the State a home but it would provide a basic floor of protection, obliging the State to realise that right progressively. According to Mercy Law Resource Centre, which has published three separate reports on the issue, a constitutional right to housing would "mean that legislation and policy would have to be proofed to ensure they reasonably protect that right". Mercy Law Resource Centre goes on to say that while a legal right to a home is not a silver bullet and would not solve all our housing problems overnight, it is an important tool that would ensure this Government and future Governments introduce policies that promote and protect access to appropriate, secure and affordable homes. Placing the right to housing in the Constitution would provide a basic floor of protection for those unable to access secure or affordable accommodation @EOBroin #RaiseTheRoof pic.twitter.com/EvX5UcjmKX — Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) May 14, 2019 Eoin Ó Broin went on to point out the endless contradictions of government statements around their Rebuilding Ireland policy as well as the so-called rent pressure zones which, he assured us, are not working... “Rebuilding Ireland is based on the same failed policy consensus that has dominated Government housing policy for decades, a consensus that underinvests in public housing and over-relies on the private sector to meet social and affordable housing need.” ... for while even the dogs on the street know it well, it seems the current government needs to be told: Ó Broin also pointed out that the recent Daft.ie Rental report, had found that average rents across the country have reached “an all-time high of €1,366 per month, with rents in the capital, Dublin at €1,700 to €2,200 per month for rent.” “Clearly any young person, any young professional couple or anybody with half decent income would not be able to afford those kinds of rents and that just shows you that there is an entire generation of people who are locked out of affordable rental or purchased accommodation. All the more reason why we need to see a right to housing.” (Eoin Ó Broin) The government’s response, through its Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy David Stanton - (the minister with responsibility, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy not managing to turn up: “...the idea that the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government could not have taken half an hour to come out to participate in this crucially important debate speaks volumes for the Government and the fact that the lead spokesperson for Fianna Fáil could not have been bothered to show up” Eoin Ó Broin pointed out): “This would place the right to a home ahead of rights to social security or essential healthcare and it needs to be considered whether this is appropriate. For these reasons, the Government prefers that the right to a home be considered with the other economic, cultural and social rights, and that the process already agreed is followed. That process is the referral of the eighth report of the Constitutional Convention to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach for a comprehensive examination of the issues raised.” (Deputy David Stanton, Fine Gael) ...In other words, more talk – less action. Having heard all this (and more) - 96 of the public representatives of the 158 member parliament who turned up on the 16 May, following this debate, (2 days before the protest) - the Irish Dáil (and in particular the governing parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil) voted 36-60 to reject the Sinn Féin bill. Ruth Coppinger, the left-wing TD for Dublin West following the vote tweeted: Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil just voted against the right to housing. Please take note of that in the local and European elections next week! Come to @RaiseTheRoofC protest on Saturday #LE19 #EP2019 #RaiseTheRoof — Ruth Coppinger TD (@RuthCoppingerTD) May 16, 2019 The last word - an focal deireanach Launching the rally a few days before the 18th, Damien Dempsey the singer lambasted the government of one of the richest countries in the world for its inability to look after its own people (the ‘poor ones’ that is)... singing the old lament for James Connolly the revolutionary Marxist executed by the British for his role in the 1916 Rising against the empire: Where oh where is our James Connolly ? Where oh where is that gallant man ? He is gone to organise the Union That working men they may yet be free. During the Dáil debate on the proposed referendum Deputy Gerry Adams, for Sinn Féin also quoted the working class radical: “James Connolly, the great Irish revolutionary in 1899 predicted all of this. He wrote: “After Ireland is free, says the patriot who won’t touch socialism ... if you won’t pay your rent you will be evicted same as now. But the evicting party ... will wear green uniforms and the Harp without the Crown, and the warrant turning you out on the roadside will be stamped with the arms of the Irish Republic.” We. Might. Yet. Be. Free? ...From landlords, property, landord-ism? Or the fact that a human life (and human misery) can have a price fixed to it..? Sure... Links RebuildingIreland, an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness http://rebuildingireland.ie/Rebuilding%20Ireland_Action%20Plan.pdf The fact that Rebuilding Ireland is a technical success but practical failure reveals some of the weaknesses at the heart of it. https://www.focusireland.ie/rebuilding-ireland-technical-success-practical-failure/ Mercy Law Resource Centre Second Right to Housing Report: The Right to Housing in Comparative Perspective https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/committee/dail/32/joint_committee_on_housing_planning_and_local_government/submissions/2...n.pdf Other Global Rights articles on Ireland https://www.globalrights.info/?s=Ireland Watch Cross Political Party Support for Raise the Roof rally https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjIYt15Jz4Y Damien Dempsey singing Colony at Raise the Roof protest Dublin Sat 18th May 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gAx2DFm4wI Damien Dempsey sings 'James Connolly'' (2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q27_r1T94eo Why are so many people homeless in Ireland? | Al Jazeera The Stream (2017) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B1xpXenjLs My life in a hotel room: Ireland’s hidden homeless crisis (The Guardian, Dec. 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRSicUnEHm8 |