Despite regularly citing EU and international legal obligations, the Government fails to clarify how many in direct provision are not entitled to accommodation under EU/international law and says it may not even be able to ascertain the figure.
That figure is likely to be several thousand as it includes the vast majority of those who’re waiting months and years for the Justice Minister to decide on their Leave to Remain applications (after their asylum claims is refused).
Anyone earning €35k-55k has no hope of securing a home on their income alone even though a large number of public and private sector workers are in this pay bracket.
Clare TD Michael McNamara is urging government to introduce legislation that combats “unscrupulous” landlords who rent out homes unfit for purpose as well as unscrupulous tenants who do not pay rent and “game the system.”
The ability of unscrupulous landlords to rent out homes unfit for purpose, as well as unscrupulous tenants to not pay rent and game the system, needs to be addressed with legislation not platitudes.
Clare TD Michael McNamara has called on the Government to ensure that accommodation provided to refugees and asylum seekers is more evenly dispersed across the State.
Discrimination in planning decisions based on farm size or “viability” of a farm holding by An Bord Pleanála, and recently enshrined in the Clare County Development Plan, must be tackled and eradicate
In a depressing debate for those in need of housing, the Government insists its measures are working when they are clearly inadequate and all opposition parties try to make private property owners the focus and blame them for the State’s failings over decades.
Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara has suggested Ennis town centre as the focus of a government pilot project aimed at bringing buildings back into residential use.
The proposed demolition of six houses at Francis St, Ennis, recently purchased by Clare County Council, needs to be reconsidered, and the Tánaiste agrees.
Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara has expressed his strong opposition to the proposed demolition of five houses at Francis Street in Ennis and a more recently constructed home behind the properties to accommodate the development of a temporary carpark.
Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara says the Government must lift the “wall of silence” surrounding plans to refit a large industrial building for emergency accommodation for refugees at Shannon Business Park.
The increase in the income threshold for entitlement to social housing is welcome but at €35,000 (before tax) in Clare, it still excludes many who cannot get a mortgage.
The effect of the moratorium on notices to terminate will be to preclude unintended/one-off landlords from renting out their homes in future. They will leave their properties vacant instead, making a bad situation worse.
The Derelict Sites Act is under-utilised by local authorities to bring such sites back into use. Only 1,415 derelict sites were on the Register on 1st January, 2022. Key instruments at the State’s disposal are not being used to end the housing crisis.
In the budget, the Government is introducing a levy on all concrete products, which will be passed on to those already struggling to build a home. The Government failed to recoup any of the cost of the mica redress from the quarry owners who caused the problem. It didn’t even try.
Quarries that made huge profits from selling defective concrete blocks will be let off the hook by the Government today. A law will be rammed through by Government party TDs transferring the remedial cost to taxpayers, without even considering amendments that will ensure those quarries that provided defective blocks are pursued.
The priorities are, firstly, that crumbling homes are fully remedied and, secondly, that taxpayers are not be left footing all the cost. This Government Bill does neither. It should ensure those who made defective concrete blocks for profit are legally pursued.
The Government has lacked urgency in pursuing quarry operators who sold deficient concrete blocks and foundations. Taxpayers and those building a home in the future should not be left footing all the bill to help the victims.
Plans to help people to buy derelict properties to renovate and live in are welcome, but if not launched soon will be overtaken by an increase in construction costs.
This is not a plan to tackle inflation. It’s compensation for inflation in April, but the cost of living will continue to rise before and after then. We urgently need targeted measures by Government to tackle rising energy & housing costs, the main drivers of inflation in Ireland.
At today’s Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I questioned whether the underuse of the Derelict Sites Act by local authorities was due to legislative deficiencies in the Act or other reasons.
The number of local authority inspections of private rented properties in 2020 was particularly inadequate. While Covid is cited as the reason, the figures for 2019 are not much better.
Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara has called on Government to extend the Local Property Tax exemption and the Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme for affected properties in Donegal and Mayo to properties impacted by pyrite in County Clare.
Deputy McNamara’s comments follow this week’s confirmation by Clare County Council’s to Clare’s Oireachtas Members that the local authority has issued a detailed submission to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to justify the extension of the Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme to Clare.
Clare County Council says the submission contains test results from 5 private properties confirming the presence of pyrite, a map indicating the location of both confirmed and potential cases and a request to review elements of the current scheme, including the limit of remediation costs at 90% plus other unfunded costs such as alternative accommodation, demolition and planning. The local authority has requested the extension of the Local Property Tax exemption for affected properties, recently introduced in Mayo and Donegal, to be extended to Clare.
Speaking to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe on the issue of extending the Local Property Tax to Clare homes impacted by pyrite, Deputy McNamara said, “It will provide a little help to the families in Clare that unexpectedly have homes that are not worth anything like what they spent on them. They face years of heartache trying to resolve this matter without having to spend money on engineers to show them what they already know in order to avail of the local property tax exemption. I urge the Minister to give serious consideration to the amendment.”
Deputy McNamara has expressed his hope that the Clare County Council submission to Government will result in a fully-funded Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme being extended to Clare.
“If the Government saw fit to fund a scheme like this in respect of Mayo and Donegal, I see no reason whatsoever why Clare constituents and any other householders in the country who suffer from the same problem should not be treated in exactly the same way by the Government. It is a matter of basic equality. It is critical however, that any future scheme be 100% fully funded,” he said.
In Dáil Éireann today, Clare Independent T.D. Michael McNamara called on Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien to change the income limits for eligibility for social housing to enable working families to apply in circumstances where obtaining a mortgage is beyond their reach.
During Priority Questions to the Minister, Deputy McNamara also highlighted the growing cost of construction materials and its subsequent impact on house building across County Clare.
Speaking on the issue of social housing, Deputy McNamara said the current assessment of housing applicants was overly restrictive.
“As the threshold is currently set in Clare, if two people in a household are working or even if just one person is working and is just a little over the minimum wage, those people are not entitled to go on the social housing list,” he explained. “Effectively, only people in receipt of social welfare can get social housing in Clare because of where the limits are set I have no problem with people in receipt of social welfare getting social housing but it should not be limited to that because it will cause ghettoisation of social housing, which nobody thinks is a good thing, and there is a disincentive to work, especially when it is low-paid work.”
“We need to look at those income thresholds for the sake of society and housing in Clare, to even get back to where we were in the 1980s,” Deputy McNamara informed the Dáil.
Meanwhile, Deputy McNamara also asked if the Department has consulted the construction sector regarding the growing impact on housing construction on the shortage and inflating cost of timber.
“House building is becoming increasingly expensive. There is huge material inflation, especially, but not just, in timber. This affects one-off builds, but it also affects the capacity of local authorities to deliver houses,” stated Deputy McNamara.
He added, “Small one-off builders and self-builders are important to the supply of housing in Ireland, particularly in rural areas. Accessing materials is increasingly difficult as the supply is drying up. A simple length of 4″ X 2″ was €8 last year and is now €13. One of the main builder’s suppliers in Clare is no longer stocking timber. Builders will not give quotes of more than a month’s duration because of inflation in the cost of supplies. I refer not just to timber, but to materials generally?”
“There is a lot of timber growing in Ireland and much of that is past the point of maturity. Many landowners across Clare are looking for felling licences. There is chaos in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, particularly in its forestry section. I would ask the Minister of State to speak with Senator Hackett, who is the Minister of State with responsibility for this, and tell her to get things moving,” stated Deputy McNamara.
Responding to Deputy McNamara about the rising cost of building materials, Minister O’Brien said, “There have been material increases in timber, plastics and metals, some of it Covid-related and some of it Suez-related and supply chain-related. This is being monitored by the Department’s market surveillance unit. The increases we are seeing could be temporary, but we are monitoring the situation. The Deputy asked if this has an effect on delivery. There is no question that it does.”
The income limits for eligibility for social housing need to be changed to enable working families to apply in circumstances where obtaining a mortgage is beyond their reach.
The meaning of the word “logjam” is now clear to builders and those building their own home. Forestry owners can’t get a felling licence so timber mills can’t get logs so builders can’t get timber so homes can’t be built. I asked Government to tackle this.
In the Dáil this evening, I expressed my concern that the number of Clare homes compromised by Pyrite defective blocks is much greater than previously anticipated.
No one measure will provide a magic bullet to the housing problem. We need to get people back living in the streets of our cities, towns and villages and local authorities building houses.
Clare Independent T.D. Michael McNamara says the Government has commenced a process of engagement with Clare County Council over the potential extension of the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme to affected homes in Clare.
I raised the extension of the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme to Clare and welcomed confirmation that the Department is in communication with Clare County Council regarding the requirements.
The welcome shown by the people of Miltown Malbay to asylum seekers is in marked contrast to the aims of our Direct Provision system, I told the Dáil tonight.
During my election campaign, I vowed to address the number of derelict buildings in our towns and villages and go back to building homes in our communities, taking pressure off the rental market. I raised this issue with the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, in Dáil Éireann last night.
