Oct 3rd Dáil Motion and protest calling for emergency measures on Housing – a moment of truth for Fine Gael and Fianna Fail
Only People Power can force radical change in housing policy, needed to address dire housing emergency.
In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett TD for People Before Profit and a member of the National Housing and Homeless Coalition, has said the cross-party motion (see attached) and Dáil protest, this Wednesday, Oct 3rd, calling for emergency measures to address the worsening housing and homeless crisis, represents “a moment of truth for Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, as to whether they are serious about addressing this housing emergency or just speaking out of both sides of their mouths.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett will open the debate on the Dáil Motion, which will be taken in People Before Profit’s private member’s time but is also supported by Sinn Fein, Solidarity, Social Democrats, Independents for Change, Green Party and Labour.
Deputy Boyd Barrett contacted Fianna Fail last week to ask whether they would support the private member’s motion but has, as yet, received no formal reply.
The Dáil Motion is coordinated with the ‘Raise the Roof’ protest at the Dáil which will begin at 12.30pm and is co-organised by the National Housing and Homelessness Coalition, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, National Women’s Council and Union of Student’s in Ireland.
The National Housing and Homelessness Coalition members include; The McVerry Trust, Dublin Simon, Focus Ireland, Inner City Helping the Homeless, Dublin Renter’s Union, Dublin Tenant’s Association, Irish Traveller’s Movement, SIPTU, Forsa, Dublin Council of Trade Unions, USI, People Before Profit, Solidarity, Social Democrats, Green Party, Labour campaigns and many more.
The protest and motion are also supported by the Take Back the City movement.
Richard Boyd Barrett said: “The government constantly dismiss criticism of their failure to address the housing and homelessness crisis by claiming their critics are not offering alternative solutions. This, of course, is totally untrue and dishonest. Many of us have been saying for seven years or more that unless we build public and affordable housing on public land that this crisis would get worse. Over that time, again and again, we have put forward proposals, motions and bills that have been ignored or voted down by the government.
‘’On Wednesday, once again, we will present the Government and Fianna Fail with a set of alternative policies agreed by a very wide range of housing NGO’s, activist groups, Trade Unions and opposition political parties.
‘’At the centre of these proposals are the demands for an emergency programme of public and affordable housing on public and NAMA land; an end to economic evictions into homelessness, real rent controls and security of tenure measures; more aggressive policies to bring empty properties and unused building land into use for housing; and the insertion of a right to affordable housing into the constitution.
“The latest government figures on new social housing output show that despite all the announcements and promises from Fine Gael, the actual delivery of new council houses is pathetic. In all four Dublin Councils, only 203 new council houses were built in the first half of 2018, with only 16 in Dublin city. This is with 40,000 households on the public housing list and thousands of families with children, actually homeless. There is still no affordable housing scheme and the Minister seems to think that €320,000 is an affordable price for a house when it is completely unaffordable for the vast majority of working people.
“Incredibly the government are still allowing Local Authorities and NAMA to sell off public land, often to vulture funds and property speculators, when this land should be used for public and affordable housing. They have also done nothing to stop rents spiralling out of control.
“So this is a moment of truth for Fine Gael and particularly for Fianna Fail. Are they willing to take the urgent and radical measures necessary to stem this crisis or are they speaking out of both sides of their mouths? We shall see, but the more people we get outside the Dáil at the protest on Wednesday, the better chance we have of getting the right answer.”
Ends
