The Workers’ Party have called for a national housing strategy on a permanent basis to ensure that never again will the citizens of this country have to face the type of housing emergency currently impacting on hundreds of thousands of people.
Workers’ Party Meath spokesman Seamus McDonagh said that the current housing crisis was putting an unimaginable strain on families and individuals but could have been avoided if proper planning had taken place and different choices taken.
“Instead of relying on a greedy and unreliable private sector the state should have taken the lead role through the building of sufficient numbers of high quality local authority homes to meet the demand. Successive governments created a boom time for property speculators and now it is private landlords who are cleaning up while families suffer”, said McDonagh.
He said, “There has been a housing crisis in this country on average every 15 years or so. This could have been avoided with proper strategic planning. Instead of floundering in a crisis today, governments should be planning for the housing needs of 25 and even 50 years from now. Unfortunately they have always put their own interests and the interests of their speculator cronies before those of families.”
Mr. McDonagh said that the Workers’ Party would be formulating a comprehensive housing policy at its forthcoming Ard Fheis which will be held in Dublin on 9th & 10th October. “We have always held that a roof over one’s head is a fundamental right. We reject the notion of a property ladder where those in need of housing have to scrimp and scrape throughout their adult lives for often unsuitable and overcrowded homes. There must be no more housing emergencies nor should the housing profiteers be allowed to exploit those in need of housing. It is time to tilt the balance away from the landlords and speculators” said the Workers’ Party representative.