Leo Varadkar to tackle Ireland's housing crisis 'Covid-style'

asdfg22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058277624/leo-varadkar-to-tackle-irelands-housing-crisis-covid-style

He was also the minister for health and sorted that?

The housing crisis has being talked about HERE for about 5/6 years and ignored by politicians...

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120050853#Comment_120050853

That's because they aren't the priority remember. In Leo's "New FG" it's more about grandstanding on the European stage and personal dopamine hits through populist twitter posts and policy. McEntee is even more caught up in this ideology and another reason why we have the problems with this refugee "strategy" that are being swept under the rug but keep spilling out into the local press and social media anyway.#

Don't forget that Leo struggled to get reelected last time too. "Disconnected" doesn't even begin to describe him and his cabinet supporters.

whisky_galore

Flying kites and talking shite, classic Leo.

Funny how the health system reset back to same old, same old when covid died down.

Wanderer2010

It must be extremely depressing for the current generation of renters who have no other option than to fork out every cent of their wages every month to see successive governments pander to the private rental industry and investor companies who have single handedly destroyed our housing situation by buying up land and erecting endless shoddy apartments for the bargain monthly rent of 2500!

And there are almost zero social or affordable housing options since our lovely compassionate government shipped them out to the private sector too-HAP payments arent accepted by most landlords, and the ones that do demand a "top up" payment from their tenants who by the way they can evict at any stage, therefore nullifying the concept of a safe permanent home.

And all this continues to stay the same, as long as faceless and heartless investors are blinding the ministers with flashy powerpoint slides extolling the advantages of shared living and endless rent increases, all the while they cream billions off the rental market in this country. Crowd of complete puppets but sadly i fear Sinn Fein will just do the exact same.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120050911#Comment_120050911

SF will be no salvation. They will make all of this worse as their only real goal is a United Ireland - something most down here don't really care about beyond romanticism and certainly not when the idea of paying for it comes up, but then as you say given the costs they already face it's not surprising.

Too many of our political class are from political dynasties or married into them, most if not all own their own homes (certainly the main players) and are landlords themselves. There's no accountability, no consequence, no penalities. FFS even in the UK they will normally quit or be forced to if caught out, but not here... here they brazen it out or (like Enda Kenny used to do) disappear for a week or two before declaring "nothing to see here!"

Until we change how politics works in this country, there's little hope of anything else changing.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120050893#Comment_120050893

insincere kite flyer, shît stirrer and grandstanding disconnected egotist extraordinaire…

id love if the Dublin West constituents put paid to him but I’m not sure in a four seat constituency that’s likely, yet… Joan Burton is finished .. so realistically it’s Ruth Coppinger or a new face.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058277624/leo-varadkar-to-tackle-irelands-housing-crisis-covid-style

Can anybody explain the politics going on here?

Sure. There’s no crisis in housing in Ireland. There would be if most people didn’t have a roof over their heads every night, but that’s simply not the case. The politics going on here is that some people are using claims of the existence of a housing crisis where they never gave a shìt before now, in order to argue against Ireland fulfilling it’s legal obligations in accordance with international human rights law to provide for refugees.

One has nothing to do with the other. People seeking accommodation existed in Ireland long before refugees arrived here, and those people were ignored by the vast majority of people because they weren’t affected. They’re still not affected, but that has never stopped a tiny minority of people who are unaffected from trying to whip up a political movement out of nothing by way of purporting to care about people they still regard as being a drain on Irish society.

Leo is just being Leo, he’s always been careful to sense which direction the political winds are blowing before he comes out with some of the stuff he does, like when he came out with stuff like this -

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/leo-varadkar-well-never-apologise-for-standing-up-for-people-who-get-up-early-they-deserve-a-break-36249175.html

Or this, which was just as comical -

https://www.thejournal.ie/fact-check-leo-varadkar-welfare-cheats-3404165-Jun2017/

Leo is a politician, you’d need to be incredibly naive to believe he has any real interest in putting the welfare of other people above his own interests in maintaining his political career.

That’s the politics which are going on here.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051649#Comment_120051649

People not affected ? So that means they shouldn’t have a view or express that view ?

if a person doesn’t need our healthcare services , that doesn’t mean in the future, they or a loved one won’t.

if a person doesn’t need to rely on public transport the same.

if a person owns their own house with a partner , who is to say that circumstance won’t change there.

if a person is trying to get on the property ladder, the same…

but in this country, as long as democracy is an enabled facet of society people can speak up and have a view.

people seeking accommodation has always existed, yes, but at the rate peoples have arrived, are arriving and will continue to…people want to get engaged, want to get aware, talking and evaluating…choices etc…

this country and its citizens will be beset with issues in the coming decade….it’s outrageously unsustainable and it’s prudent people get involved and turn to choices and actions to ensure their own needs and wellbeing are not only met, but prioritised…

Leo and the rest should be watched like hawks… people should put whatever local good he does to one side and show him and a few more like him the exit door.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051656#Comment_120051656

People not affected ? So that means they shouldn’t have a view or express that view ?

No, it means people who are not affected. It doesn’t mean that anyone shouldn’t have a view or isn’t entitled to express that view. I specifically referred to the tiny minority of people who aren’t affected who express views as though they are concerned about the people who are affected, and are using said false pretences to argue against Ireland taking in refugees.

The OP asked for an explanation of the politics going on with Leo coming out with his latest effort, and Leo recognises that the vast majority of people in Ireland while they are concerned about housing, are also concerned about providing protection for refugees. The vast majority of Irish people see these as two separate issues which aren’t in conflict with each other. It’s only a tiny number of people who are portraying both issues as though they are in conflict, in accordance with their own political views.

People who are unaffected by these issues, which is the vast majority of people in Ireland, aren’t interested in showing Leo the door while they’re still benefiting from Irish Government policies, which most people are.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051656#Comment_120051656

Fact is we need immigration,unless you want to rely on the money tree.

Most European countries would kill for for an increasing population.

mazdamiatamx5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120050843#Comment_120050843

Yep, spot on. And anyone that speaks against it in public is called a fascist or Provo.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051671#Comment_120051671

What's a Provo?

Hello 2D Person Below

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120050819#Comment_120050819

Do you understand what a border is? Croatia doesn't border Ukraine.

Russia and Poland have taken in the most Ukrainian refugees by number.

Moldova has taken in most Ukrainian refugees per capita.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051670#Comment_120051670

Nobody want an end to immigration, just an end to not being able to limit it on our terms.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051693#Comment_120051693

‘Snot quite true to say that nobody wants an end to immigration, there are a tiny minority of people who do. Their limit is zero, in accordance with their terms. The vast majority of people in Ireland don’t agree with their terms, as evidenced by their poor showing in elections -

https://youtu.be/fI84y9GNQLA

Raichu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120050471#Comment_120050471

And why not? If you don’t have room to go outward go upward. Plenty of cities have high rise buildings to accommodate a large population density. Dublin is a fine example of high population density but far lower actual space to build outward existing buildings to accommodate so they should absolutely be looking with a view towards high rise if and when necessary.

I’ve heard a few arguments against them on boards to be fair, some of them being the obstructed view of the skyline. However, I’d much rather look at streets not filled with homeless people than the sky, personally.

Hello 2D Person Below

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120050801#Comment_120050801

I cannot wait to see your source for your above claims.

Graces7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051693#Comment_120051693

Whose terms? Yours? or the government's? Two very different matters .

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051670#Comment_120051670

Take in people, but don't put in place any extra housing, health facilities, proper public transport. It's the Irish way.

Btw a hotel is NOT a house. They've gotten it into their heads that shoving people into hotels and shuffling them up and down the country from one sh1t hotel to another sh1t hotel is good enough.

Wanderer2010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051708#Comment_120051708

But those high rises wont be filled with homeless people, only private renters making a fortune for national and international developers and investment firms. Leo doesnt care about the homelessness crisis nor did any of his predecessors.

Their number 1 priority is to keep the investment firms in the red at all costs, and if this means obliterating social housing policies, relying on volunteers and the goodwill of the Irish people to house Ukranians and generally ignoring all the people in this country who cannot afford to buy a house, so be it.

igCorcaigh

It isn't really about "Leo". The personification of political choices belittles us all.

The invisible hand of the capitalist market can never provide social justice. Especially when it comes to housing.

But people surely know this.

tabby aspreme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120050718#Comment_120050718

Happening already

igCorcaigh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051917#Comment_120051917

Really?

igCorcaigh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051919#Comment_120051919

Yeah; Boston or Berlin. We had the choice.

mulbot

In that speech Varadker also mentioned our constitution as being a barrier to solving the housing problems. How so?.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051886#Comment_120051886

Couldn't give houses away ten or twelve years ago.

MisterAnarchy

A Covid style response, a can do attitude says Leo.

He and the Government literally did nothing during Covid. Nothing of merit or logic anyway.

One of the lowest populated countries in Europe, an island , lying on the edge of Europe yet we had one of the harshest and longest lockdowns in the developed world.

Almost 2 years the country was shut down, at the mercy of Nphet and Philip Nolans Walter Mitty modelling.

The HSE was and is a basketcase, hardly any extra ICU beds were created during Covid with the result that any time there was any bit of a surge in bed numbers the whole country was put into lockdown.

So what did the Government do, they shut the country down, borrowed huge amounts of money , leaving the country with the third largest National Debt per capita in the world.

They waited until they were bailed out by the vaccines.

An ultra conservative, devoid of logic policy , certainly not a can do attitude.

They wont fix the housing crisis, they wont fix the HSE, they wont fix the welfare classes.

The huge Corporate tax take is covering over all the massive cracks, but that wont last forever.

An utterly inept Government, spineless with hardly one capable minister.

Northernlily

Hollow words from a PR Taoiseach. Leo is about as useful as a chocolate teapot..

Raichu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120051875#Comment_120051875

Mate— are you trying to tell me that only poor folks are homeless in Ireland?

Trust me, I know plenty of people, making decent/good money working that are homeless and couch surfing or sleeping in their car. Either because there’s literally just no where to rent or places that are cost €€€€€’s. More properties available = lower rents on average and fewer homeless people.

Wanderer2010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120052241#Comment_120052241

There have been more properties erected in the last 10 yrs by private investor firms, who control the housing market, than the previous 10 yrs and the rents have increased by 100%. There are not enough affordable or social housing units for the homeless to avail of since the government ceased the policy of local authorities building and maintaining such houses.