Letter to the Editor: We may be sleepwalking into an even deeper housing crisis
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Former tánaiste Dick Spring was fearful the electorate might “sleepwalk into another five years of the same old same old” — (Irish Examiner, November 25). And he believes that “at the end of it, there will be more alienation, more poverty and hardship, and more unnecessary suffering in a more and more uncertain world”.
Dick Spring’s worst fears could now become a reality, as it now seems very likely that both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will form the next government, and many are not at all convinced that situations will improve over the next few years for the many thousands who cannot afford a house at present.
Also, rents will probably remain unaffordable for thousands, and very ill, elderly patients will continue to die on trolleys while waiting for a bed in a hospital. The above scandals are a disgrace and there would be riots in many other countries if a similar situation prevailed.
It is difficult to disagree with Mr Spring’s opinion that “one of the biggest government mistakes” over the past 20 years “was to transfer the business of building houses for people to the private sector, which was a disastrous foolhardy decision”.
On that point, he also reminded readers “that local authority housebuilding reached a peak in 1984 under a Labour minister”.
He admitted that the situation at that time was not easy, “we had our difficulties, but we were driven by the need to decrease housing lists, and we did it”.
He added, unlike now, “houses were available and affordable” at that time.
I recently came across a Kilkenny newspaper called dated Wednesday, March 1, 1950, almost 75 years ago.
During that particular week, the Bishop of Ossory, Dr Collier, blessed and opened 120 new houses in the Kennyswell area of Kilkenny City. Ald MJ Keyes, a Limerick TD who was the minister for local government, also attended the opening.
This was at a time when Ireland was very badly off (with not a bob in the country, you could say), but still a new house was being constructed in Kilkenny every four days.
Emigration was very high due to unemployment during the 50s and is still high now — not due to unemployment, but many young, highly educated people are getting out of Ireland, as they have no prospect of acquiring a house, with rents among the highest in the world.
A shameful situation.
Even rural GAA clubs are suffering because some of their best players have emigrated, and now these unfortunates have more friends in Australia, the US, or Dubai, than at home.
Our esteemed President, Michael D Higgins, commented on our lack of housing in January 2022. He said at that time that it “was not a crisis anymore, but a disaster. It has been our great, great failure” he said, while adding that “building houses are what is important, not to be a star performer for the speculative sector internationally or anything else”.
And even that strong criticism from Mr Higgins went unheeded by the last Government, who never commented at the time, and who never really increased their efforts to solve what is Ireland’s greatest disaster of the 21st century. It should have ensured that they would be confined to the back benches for at least the next five years.
However, the electorate in their wisdom decided who will form the next government, and that is democracy as we know it, but can you see a change for the better in Ireland over the next few years?
Maybe you can, but I just cannot.
In light of the relatively low 59.71% voter turnout in the general election, serious consideration should be given to offering voters an online option of voting.
There is much debate about the most appropriate day of the week to hold a general election, especially in relation to third-level students and those working during voting hours or unable to make it to the polling station for whatever reason.
An online electronic option would render this debate somewhat redundant. The in-person voting system should continue, but each polling station should have an up-to-date electronic register of voters to ensure there is no multiple voting. With increased and improved broadband, the availability of electronic registers should not be a problem. A hard copy of the register should be available as a safeguard. This on its own may not solve the low voter turnout, but along with extensive education and publicity campaigns, it should help increase the national turnout.
When all the proverbial election dust has settled and the analysis is looked at, one phase which may be seen as a pivotal moment was when Fianna Fáil party leader Micheál Martin uttered the phrase — with particular reference to his Government partner — to “stop the phoney war”.
That ‘request’ and timely warning shot was, in fact, in hindsight, a lifebelt being thrown to Fine Gael, even though they probably in their initial exuberance of pleasing polls felt that the finishing line was just a foregone conclusion.
My congratulations to Micheál Martin — he said the late Jack Lynch was his political hero — were he alive he would be chuffed at the election results.
Isn’t it amazing after all the canvassing, leaders’ debates, hype, and polls, we are back to where we started, except for the Green Party’s virtual elimination?
Will we be any better off, though?
Will we see the homeless, housing, or even the medical crisis, which has plagued us for decades, improve?
For those of us who voted, will anything change?
The party that led us to virtual financial ruin will have a mandate, with its majority, to lead the next government.
Isn’t it truly amazing that we reward parties, even when they fail us or who still live by their deep-seated ideologies? How quickly we forgive and forget. There were a number of positives though, with Wallace, Daly, Hutch, and Barry (PBP) not being elected.
So it wasn’t all that bad.
Gardaí have confirmed that Blackrock Rowing Club were wrongly named in a Garda statement during an inquest at Cork City Coroner’s Court on Thursday, November 21.
The club (and all local rowing clubs) had nothing to do with the referenced river rowing event, which we are not eligible to row in.
Our club is a coastal rowing club which is a completely different rowing discipline. Our boats had been stored away for the winter and were not launched until two weeks after that event. Blackrock Rowing Club members are extremely respectful to everyone who uses the river and we would always be mindful of the difficult work that the gardaí and rescue services have to endure on a daily basis. We hope this clarifies the situation.
Almost everyone wants better this and better that, more of this and less of that, but the real issue is ‘the how’ — how you get the job done.
But here’s the rub: While politics is the art of the possible, the gap between FF/FG and other potential partners is as wide or narrow as the gap between the possible and the practical, between theory and practice, and between policy and implementation.
It seems completely and utterly ludicrous, in the face of a climate emergency, for newly elected TD Ken O’Flynn to declare he is putting on a “green” jersey and then mention that a top priority for him in government is a ring-road for Cork City.
This must be the elusive ‘common sense’ of which the Independent Ireland Party feels it is the self-appointed gatekeeper.
The new US commerce secretary is a chap called Howard Lutnick. He has mentioned Ireland specifically when it comes to imposing US tariffs. It seems that Mr Lutnick can’t believe that the US runs a trade deficit with Ireland.
Our new government will quickly realise this is the sort of environment I think we are heading into. I suspect this will be a regular topic of political discussion in the weeks and months ahead.
It will be most intriguing to see how the political system in Ireland, and indeed elsewhere, reacts to these global developments, which are actually going to be much more important than what happens to potholes in the UK, France, or indeed Ireland.