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Homelessness: The disgrace that is Varadkar and the Government

JupiterKid

When Leo Varadkar assumed office of Taoiseach he did the obligatory lap of honour, with the international media fawning over his sexuality and mixed ethnicity, making out the Ireland was now such a modern, progressive society. He was photographed comparing socks (WTF??) with Canadian premier Justin Trudeau.

But look at his record. As Minister for Health, he slashed the already paltry budget for mental health services, an utterly reprehensible act in my view. Irish mental health services are among the worst in the developed world and need more funding, not less. Look at the suicide rates amongst our young. Also, as a gay man myself I found it a bit disingenious that Varadkar chose to come out shortly before the same sex marriage referendum, which if you may not recall he originally opposed.

But then again, our public health system is in a mess generally as a brief stint in A&E in a major Dublin hospital showed me. Very unwell people left on trolleys in corridors for hours, overworked nurses and doctors and taking 11 hours to be seen by a doctor over a heart complaint.

Then there is Varadkar's statement on the housing crisis being over-exaggerated by charities and housing agencies. The pure gall of him to make such a flippant statement. Dublin has a serious housing emergency, a major social housing building programme would go a long way to solving that situation but no, the private market and the banking sector must prevail at all costs. I honestly can't see the situation changing one iota unless a general election takes place.

IMO Leo is a neo-liberal Thatcherite who talks the talk, but can't walk the walk. He has zero interest in the most vulnerable in Irish society. Sadly, I don't see many votes in mental health issues or housing issues, except to ensure those in the know and with connections ensure their over-inflated dwellings continue to rise in price.

It's a sad spectacle and IMO Leo is no supporter in social justice or equality, in any shape or form. The current minority FG govt are a lame duck. They seem to have no ability to tackle serious pressing social problems, particularly with housing and health. Where is the sense of vision? Where is the sense of doing things for the good of Irish society as a whole? I sure don't see it.

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hatrickpatrick

blanch152 wrote: »

The money saved could have been used for social housing. I suppose the magic money tree will have to do.

How many housing units do you think we might be able to afford if we abolished the HSE and made all of the non medical senior staff redundant over night?

blanch152

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

How many housing units do you think we might be able to afford if we abolished the HSE and made all of the non medical senior staff redundant over night?

None, the HSE would collapse without anyone to manage it.

hatrickpatrick

blanch152 wrote: »

None, the HSE would collapse without anyone to manage it.

Given that I'm talking about abolishing it altogether, it's collapse would be entirely pre-emoted...

Good loser

tomwaterford wrote: »

Was the water charges money not supposed to be ring fenced for water repairs/works etc??

How much money was spent policing the water protests??....I've heard a figure from a fairly in the know source that suggests it is nearly more than money was raised by the charges,

And they are waiting for confirmation before releasing the info

That so called 'info' will never be 'confirmed' as the differences are enormous.

Anyway as well as being responsible for the abolition of charges ( though strictly FF are to blame) they were responsible for the expenses of policing the protests.

The money that the Govt now gives to IW could have been used for housing. €350 m plus per annum. At 300k per house that would have provided 1,000 houses per annum.

Or if it supported people buying their own homes at €50,000 a pop, say, they could support 6,000 homes a year.

McMurphy

Matt Barrett wrote: »

Varadkar compared Ireland's homeless figures to a report from 2015, from other countries, which includes people living with their parents or friends as homeless. Using these figures he dangerously downplayed a crisis he seems to know very little about.
McVerry pointed out that we do not include people living with their parents or friends as homeless in our figures, but if Varadkar truly, genuinely wants to compare like with like, our figures would be even higher.
Either Varadkar's team willfully or ignorantly supplied him with figures not relevant to our crisis.
Varadkar using any figures, even irrelevant ones from other countries to downplay a national crisis exacerbated by and creating constantly record breaking levels, directly due to his policies and the policies of his government and their partners Fianna Fail, is absolutely irresponsible and shameful.

You'd think with the €5m propaganda centre behind him (more money that could have been better spent)

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has come under direct attack for opening a so-called “propanganda unit” costing €5m.

Leo's backroom PR staff could have come up with better spoof proof figures than what they did.

Wheeliebin30

Rick Shaw wrote: »

You'd think with the €5m propaganda centre behind him (more money that could have been better spent)

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has come under direct attack for opening a so-called “propanganda unit” costing €5m.

Leo's backroom PR staff could have come up with better spoof proof figures than what they did.

The only spinning is claiming people living with their parents are now classed as homeless.

Jesus when did this whole sham get so ridiculous.

[Deleted User]

end of the road wrote: »

water charges were unaffordible, and were bringing undue hardship upon many people. they were not viable and had to go.

And now other services, like housing, health etc have to suffer in order to pay for upgrading the system and supplying potable water for all. Thanks for nothing.

christy c

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

How many housing units do you think we might be able to afford if we abolished the HSE and made all of the non medical senior staff redundant over night?

What would you replace it with and how much have you set aside for redundancy payments/unemployment benefit?

[Deleted User]

end of the road wrote: »

water charges were unaffordible, and were bringing undue hardship upon many people. they were not viable and had to go.

If that's the case, then I say solving homelessness is unaffordable and people will just have to tough it out on the streets.

If people are not willing to pay for water (basic requirement for their own life), what makes you think they are going to be willing to pay for affordable housing for total strangers?

end of the road

Deleted User wrote: »

And now other services, like housing, health etc have to suffer in order to pay for upgrading the system and supplying potable water for all. Thanks for nothing.

other services would have had to suffer more with water charges, as the undue hardship brought upon people would have caused extra poverty.

salonfire wrote: »

If that's the case, then I say solving homelessness is unaffordable and people will just have to tough it out on the streets.

If people are not willing to pay for water (basic requirement for their own life), what makes you think they are going to be willing to pay for affordable housing for total strangers?

a basic requirement for life like water is not a commodity. it's a vital human right. not wanting to pay for a human right doesn't mean one won't wish to pay to help others.

James Brown

My reference to IW was more to do with the waste of money than the concept. The sweet deal, the crony appointments, the millions on consultants.

oscarBravo wrote: »

That's not a clarification so much as a further evasion, with respect.

Sorry, your request is not genuine. You want me to budget for a national social housing project? I cannot. That does not mean it's not the better way to go. I also can't budget for emergency accomodation, yet here we are.
If we can find money for the pockets of private interests to maintain the housing/homeless crisis and feed it as it grows, we can surely find money to build social housing.

Do you believe what the state is currently doing is the best road to follow?
As I've said, things are getting worse and Fine Gael's answer is more of the same and a disgraceful attempt at down playing it. They either aren't capable or are unwilling to tackle the issue.
Trying to defend or deflect from this obviousness, is just silly.

[Deleted User]

end of the road wrote: »

other services would have had to suffer more with water charges, as the undue hardship brought upon people would have caused extra poverty.

a basic requirement for life like water is not a commodity. it's a vital human right. not wanting to pay for a human right doesn't mean one won't wish to pay to help others.

Who pays for your food, then?

I assume you don't buy it yourself, since you do not believe in paying for basic requirement for life.

MadYaker

end of the road wrote: »

other services would have had to suffer more with water charges, as the undue hardship brought upon people would have caused extra poverty.

a basic requirement for life like water is not a commodity. it's a vital human right. not wanting to pay for a human right doesn't mean one won't wish to pay to help others.

Water is absolutely a commodity, just like food and in years to come it's going become extremely valuable. Water charges will come back its inevitable. Clean drinking water is a service that costs money to provide just like electricity, internet, mains gas etc and it must be paid for one way or another.

end of the road

MadYaker wrote: »

Water is absolutely a commodity, just like food and in years to come it's going become extremely valuable. Water charges will come back its inevitable. Clean drinking water is a service that costs money to provide just like electricity, internet, mains gas etc and it must be paid for one way or another.

it's not a commodity but a vital human right. water charges will be faught again and we will win.

[Deleted User]

end of the road wrote: »

it's not a commodity but a vital human right. water charges will be faught again and we will win.

Food is also a vital human right.

So, I will ask you again, who pays for your food?

oscarBravo

Matt Barrett wrote: »

If we can find money for the pockets of private interests to maintain the housing/homeless crisis and feed it as it grows, we can surely find money to build social housing.

The problem with "we can surely find money" is that it's nothing more than hand-wringing, especially in the same thread where property taxes and water charges are denounced as immoral.

There's something depressingly predictable about the whole "it's a disgrace that the government isn't raising someone else's taxes to pay for this problem that I feel strongly about" line of argument.

tomwaterford

oscarBravo wrote: »

The problem with "we can surely find money" is that it's nothing more than hand-wringing, especially in the same thread where property taxes and water charges are denounced as immoral.

There's something depressingly predictable about the whole "it's a disgrace that the government isn't raising someone else's taxes to pay for this problem that I feel strongly about" line of argument.

This being the same government who don't bother collecting taxes that the eu pointed out was due to em??

How can yous in all honesty ask someone scraping and barely getting by to pay extra tax??

while leaving one of the richest corporation in the world,use cute hoorism and loopholes to pay 0.05% tax?.....

what is the effective tax rate in ireland for everyone else who works while rich coroporations pay <0.1% tax??.....

Varadkar claims to represent the middle class etc....he do in his balls they as always represent the only the rich....while throwing soundbites and sops to the working poor

christy c

tomwaterford wrote: »

This being the same government who don't bother collecting taxes that the eu pointed out was due to em??

How can yous in all honesty ask someone scraping and barely getting by to pay extra tax??

while leaving one of the richest corporation in the world,use cute hoorism and loopholes to pay 0.05% tax?.....

what is the effective tax rate in ireland for everyone else who works while rich coroporations pay <0.1% tax??.....

Varadkar claims to represent the middle class etc....he do in his balls they as always represent the only the rich....while throwing soundbites and sops to the working poor

Criticising Varadkar for using soundbites is ironic after reading the rest of your post

oscarBravo

tomwaterford wrote: »

This being the same government who don't bother collecting taxes that the eu pointed out was due to em??

No, it's the government that disagrees that the tax is owed to them. Now, if your idea of an ideal government is one that collects billions in tax that it doesn't believe is owed, we'll agree to differ.

Once again: the mantra of "the government should solve the world's problems by taxing someone else" is predictable and facile.

tomwaterford

oscarBravo wrote: »

No, it's the government that disagrees that the tax is owed to them. Now, if your idea of an ideal government is one that collects billions in tax that it doesn't believe is owed, we'll agree to differ.

Once again: the mantra of "the government should solve the world's problems by taxing someone else" is predictable and facile.

Looks to me....they won't to bother there arse going after tax owed to the state tbh

They'll bend over backwards to please the eu...but soon as they point out were due tax,they spend millions on solicitors to avoid collecting it....pure mugabe behaviour tbh

tomwaterford

christy c wrote: »

Criticising Varadkar for using soundbites is ironic after reading the rest of your post

If this helps yous to avoid engaging with the points raised....do what you have to do,to avoid debate

christy c

tomwaterford wrote: »

If this helps yous to avoid engaging with the points raised....do what you have to do,to avoid debate

Just pointing out that you come out with soundbites and then criticise someone else for using soundbites.

The Apple tax has been done to death in other threads, I've nothing further to add

christy c

And by the way I think Varadkar is a spoofer but hope he proves me wrong

oscarBravo

tomwaterford wrote: »

Looks to me....they won't to bother there arse going after tax owed to the state tbh

If you think "the government couldn't be bothered collecting tax" is a more likely explanation than "the government doesn't believe it's owed the tax", there's frankly not much point trying to discuss the issue with you.

tomwaterford

christy c wrote: »

Just pointing out that you come out with soundbites and then criticise someone else for using soundbites.

The Apple tax has been done to death in other threads, I've nothing further to add

All I done was point out the pure hypocrisy of this....people blindly cheering on varadkar for cutting the dole/welfare and screwing over the poor.......while blindly agreeing with the stance of not bothering collecting tax

...

.seem to imo lack critical thinking and falling for cheap/easy soundbite politics.....we have no right to critise yanks for electing trump while people hold the above position

tomwaterford

oscarBravo wrote: »

If you think "the government couldn't be bothered collecting tax" is a more likely explanation than "the government doesn't believe it's owed the tax", there's frankly not much point trying to discuss the issue with you.

How many other eu directives have the government spent millions on solicitors to avoid doing

There's a conspiracy/stinks of potential corruption in there somewhere

But yes...they dont think it's due :rolleyes:

christy c

tomwaterford wrote: »

All I done was point out the pure hypocrisy of this....people blindly cheering on varadkar for cutting the dole/welfare and screwing over the poor.......while blindly agreeing with the stance of not bothering collecting tax ...

.seem to imo lack critical thinking and falling for cheap/easy soundbite politics.....we have no right to critise yanks for electing trump while people hold the above position

Haha, you seem to have fallen for a few cheap easy soundbites yourself. Could you think of any reasons why we wouldn't collect that money? Other than the usual looking after the rich nonsense spouted by the likes of Pearse Doherty obviously

McMurphy

salonfire wrote: »

If people are not willing to pay for water (basic requirement for their own life), what makes you think they are going to be willing to pay for affordable housing for total strangers?

Serious question here, but who or how do you think water has been funded before Irish water seen the light of day, further to that, when it was set up, who was paying for it, or how do you think water service was being funded when it wasn't bringing in enough cash to exist, never mind water provisions?

tomwaterford

christy c wrote: »

Haha, you seem to have fallen for a few cheap easy soundbites yourself. Could you think of any reasons why we wouldn't collect that money? Other than the usual looking after the rich nonsense spouted by the likes of Pearse Doherty obviously

Tbh I struggle to think of any sane reason why a state running a deficit deosnt bother it's arse collecting while preaching austerity for poor people??

To perhaps make it easier....if you were to sit down and explain to your children....yous pay at higher rate 40+% tax on earnings while rich companies pay 0.05% and the people your paying your tax to are spending millions (of your tax) to keep it so? ?

How is that anything approaching fair/equitable

blanch152

tomwaterford wrote: »

If this helps yous to avoid engaging with the points raised....do what you have to do,to avoid debate

Very funny, would you criticise someone who raised the Apple tax issue in a debate about how water charges could pay for social housing?