WP Meath representative Seamus McDonagh
Meath East Workers’ Party representative Seamus McDonagh has said that those on Meath County Council’s housing list wanted to see action in the form of new local authority houses, not to witness a “Punch & Judy” show between Junior Housing Minister Damien English and local councillors.
Mr. McDonagh said the housing crisis in Meath and elsewhere had not grown up overnight, it was the product of years almost zero social housing construction and the failure to plan ahead for future needs in one of the fastest growing populations in the country.
Seamus McDonagh said “The first question that needs to be asked is how did our elected representatives and the Council CEO (County Manager) allow this situation to arise? Secondly, what are we electing councillors for if they cannot even attempt to plan for the needs of the citizens this county. The fact we have land for only 100 houses is shameful and an admittance of incompetence at every level in Co. Meath”.
“All parties and independents on the council alike must accept responsibility for this mess. In particular the parties which have been in government must be held responsible for allowing a crisis to become a national and local emergency.”
“The housing crisis can be solved but it seems the government and council are determined to pursue the same policies which nearly bankrupted this country less than a decade ago and which created the housing crisis in the first place. This crisis will never be tackled by the private sector. We can fill this county from end to end with houses but they will be of no use to anybody if they are not affordable. It is vital that the council be given the funds to buy land and the means to get it at a reasonable cost by first implementing the Kenny Report and banning speculation on the price of housing land and then providing the funds to allow Meath Co. Council or a state construction company build the houses directly on that land. Any other plan is doomed to failure with the inevitable continuation of the misery and pain that that causes”, said Mr. McDonagh.
The Workers’ Party spokesman said that there was plenty of land around the country that was being hoarded by speculators hoping to cash in on a new boom. This needed to be bought by compulsory purchase order at agricultural value and earmarked for mixed social housing. “There is a way but the reality is it would send shockwaves through the landlord and speculator class who are the mainstay of the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil parties’ backers”