The D\u00e1il has heard that the government is \u201cdeliberately prioritising non-nationals over its own people\u201d in relation to housing, and that this amounts to an \u201coutright betrayal of the Irish people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Independent TD, Carol Nolan, hit out at the government\u2019s housing policy after it was revealed <\/a>that the Department of Justice had spent more than \u20ac9 million purchasing more than 35 private homes to house asylum seekers. Investigations by Matt Treacy showed that one such house was purchased in Forgehill in Stamullen in Co Meath<\/a>, despite more than 4,000 people being on the housing list for homes in the county.<\/p>\n Responding to Deputy Nolan\u2019s parliamentary question on the matter, the Minister for Justice confirmed that 37 \u201cin-community properties\u201d had been purchased to house asylum applicants, including 20 three-bed houses and 5 four-bed homes.<\/p>\n Deputy Nolan blasted the policy during a D\u00e1il debate on evictions and rent hikes, saying that while Irish families are \u201csleeping in their cars\u201d, the state had spent millions of taxpayer\u2019s money buying \u201cdozens and dozens of properties\u201d for asylum accommodation, \u201cno problem at all\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis Government\u2019s housing policy is not just a failure; it is outright betrayal of the Irish people. While Irish families are sleeping in their cars, or if they are lucky enough, in emergency accommodation, this Government has spent \u20ac9.2 million of taxpayers\u2019 money on accommodation for asylum seekers. Dozens and dozens of properties bought, no problem at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is real homes, real apartments, and real three-bed houses being handed over to people who arrive here, often with no valid ID, no legitimate claim to asylum and many coming from safe countries. They are the facts. Meanwhile our own citizens, Irish families, are left begging for emergency accommodation that simply that does not exist,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have seen this first hand in my own constituency of Offaly. I have exposed this scandal through my parliamentary questions. The State is deliberately prioritising non-nationals over its own people, many of them who should not be here at all. This is madness. This is discrimination against Irish citizens in their own country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She also hit out at moves she said drove small landlords out of the market.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gets worse. The Government\u2019s new rules on tenancy rights, the residential tenancies (amendment) legislation, is driving small property landlords out of the market in droves. I warned about this in the Chamber before and I called for a review. It is State control of private assets. These punitive measures attack property rights, punish responsible property owners and drastically reduce the supply of rental homes,\u201d the Offaly TD said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe result is more Irish families displaced, more pressure on a broken system and more emergency accommodation that this Government then fills with asylum seekers instead of our own homeless citizens. This is not just a housing crisis; this is a crisis of priorities and disconnect,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot continue down this path. The Irish people will not tolerate it any longer. It is time to put Irish citizens first in housing, welfare and every single policy of this State. We have had enough. Rehouse our own people before anyone else. That is basic decency and, more importantly, that is common sense,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n PLANNING\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking during the same debate, Kerry Independent Danny Healy-Rae said that many people \u201cwould build a house for themselves if they could get planning permission for it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn Kerry, many people will not get planning permission because of a rule that the planning authority goes by, this urban-generated rule that prevents them getting planning permission to put a roof over their heads. They are asking for no funding, no nothing only permission to be allowed build their houses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mattie McGrath TD also hit out the cost of modular homes built in Clonmel for refugees. \u201cI was guaranteed these modular homes, which are probably worth \u20ac80,000 at best, would be finished for \u20ac200,000 and not a penny more. We discussed everything, including site, topography, water and electricity. They have now ended up costing almost \u20ac500,000 per unit. In fact, it is \u20ac496,000. Nationally they have cost \u20ac450,000, \u201cthe Tipperary TD said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an absolute travesty and a waste of money. How could any company \u2013 it was Sisk in this case \u2013 get all 11 sites in the country and get \u20ac450,000 per unit? We could build the finest house in Tipperary or any other county for \u20ac450,000,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In response, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, said that \u201cI have previously acknowledged to the House that housing is the defining social and economic challenge of our time, which affects almost every family throughout the country. It has been my absolute focus since I became Minister for housing to address this crisis. It is the single greatest issue facing so many families and working people who aspire to a secure home of their own, be it to own or to rent or a social home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAchieving the delivery of 300,000 new homes under Delivering Homes, Building Communities requires an estimated \u20ac20 billion of development finance per year. As we all recognise, that level of investment is being sought in a highly competitive international market. While the Government is providing record funding, we cannot provide every piece of funding required to deliver every home. We have to deliver schools, hospitals and roads. We have to create that investment as well in other parts of the public sector that need that support for our local communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The D\u00e1il has heard that the government is \u201cdeliberately prioritising non-nationals over its own people\u201d in relation to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[158699,201727,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-466664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-carol-nolan","tag-dept-of-justice","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}