The Irish Times view on the latest moves on housing: recognise there are no quick fixes
the Economic and Social Research Institute
is predicting that the number of home completions this year will rise only modestly to 34,000, from just over 30,300 last year. The Minister for Housing, James Browne, was forced to concede yesterday that reaching the target of 41,000 for this year would be very challenging. And to meet the Government target of 303,000 houses between 2025 and 2030, further sharp increases would be needed in subsequent years.
The Government will be all too aware of
the 'Groundhog Day' nature of the housing debate
, with targets consistently being missed. The Opposition parties are trying to take advantage by organising a day of protest next month – it remains to be seen what proposals they will put forward.
The Government is exposed here because of the failure of the previous administration and the denial of reality in the general election campaign, when outgoing ministers insisted that close to 40,000 homes would be built last year.
In addressing all this, the Government needs to accept that there are no quick fixes. Tinkering around with policy is at best pointless and at worst counter-productive. Longer-term solutions are the ones that count and the Government needs to get on with these if it is to see any meaningful results during its term.
READ MORE
In this context,
the move by the housing minister
to extend the terms for which planning permissions apply in some cases seems sensible. At the moment developers can 'time out' if hit with lengthy judicial review proceedings and have to reapply. Offering planning permissions extensions in some cases should help in terms of encouraging development and could be particularly helpful for apartment projects. It will provide some more certainty in the process.
Opposition complaints that it will encourage land hoarding need to be taken into account. The Residential Zoned Land Tax, due to encourage landowners to develop housing on land zoned for this purpose, is finally being introduced, even if it may need to be better focused to achieve the desired result. Both carrot and stick, in other words, are needed. Penalties, as well as incentives, need to be kept under review.
There are other problems in planning and viability which also need to be addressed, as well as the contentious issue of rent pressure zones. In tackling these, the Government needs to continue to build certainty for developers, as well as protecting renters and giving hope to potential buyers. It is not an easy balance to strike.
State intervention, through a host of routes, is already enormous, but if the core issues of planning, utility provision and viability are not solved, then spending will not achieve the desired results. The Government will not want to go back to basics, but really it has no choice.
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Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Heather Humphreys and Seán Kelly to seek Fine Gael nomination to run in presidential election
Former Fine Gael minister Heather Humphreys and Ireland South MEP Seán Kelly are to seek the party's nomination to run in the upcoming presidential election . Ms Humphreys said she had been 'genuinely humbled' by the support for her candidacy in recent days. 'I have decided to go for it,' Ms Humphreys told The Joe Finnegan show on local Cavan-Monaghan radio Northern Sound. The former minister said that it was 'fair' to ask why she had changed her mind, having ruled herself out of the contest in May and saying she would be supporting her 'friend' Mairead McGuinness instead. READ MORE 'But as we know, everything has changed with Mairead's news last week and I would just like to wish her well in her recovery.' Ms Humphreys said she was a 'bit burned out' and was probably 'running on empty' when she decided to step down from politics at the end of last year having been a cabinet minister for ten years. 'I've said to myself more than once: 'you could do a bit more Heather,' she said. 'Really, I've had a good rest, the tank is full again. And you know timing is a funny thing because I have never felt as good about taking on the challenge.' Her announcement came a little over an hour after Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly said that he also intends to seek the party's nomination to run in the presidential election. Mr Kelly said he believes that there should be a contest between him and Ms Humphreys for the party's nomination. Both candidates will now have two weeks to lobby their party for support. In order to be nominated as Fine Gael's candidate, both would need the support of at least 20 members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, 25 councillors and five members of the party's executive council. It is understood that Ms Humphreys is ahead with her parliamentary party despite having not yet formally started canvassing for support, though Mr Kelly said on Tuesday that he will now be seeking the support of TDs and Senators. Ms Humphreys is also understood to be the favoured candidate of party leader Simon Harris . Both Ms Humphreys and Mr Kelly had previously ruled themselves out of the contest, when it was believed that Ms McGuinness would be Fine Gael's candidate. Ms McGuinness made the shock announcement last week that she was leaving the campaign on health grounds. Ms Humphreys stood down from politics ahead of last year's general election. In May, Ms Humphreys ruled herself out of running for the presidency, referring to her decision to leave politics altogether at the end of last year. 'I said at that time that I wanted to spend more time with the family and that my time in public life was over,' she said in May. 'I made that decision then and it is the same.' In July, Mr Kelly also ruled himself out of the contest. He said that the presidency was largely a ceremonial role. 'You don't have that much power or influence even though you can dress it up whatever way you like and I like to be involved politically,' Mr Kelly said then. The MEP appeared to walk these comments back on Tuesday, saying that his comment 'was in comparison to presidents around the world who have executive powers'. 'But I think actually there's a huge potential in the job, it is the highest honour in Ireland. And if you look at what the last number of presidents have done, they've done tremendous work. There's huge flexibility there,' Mr Kelly said. The former president of the GAA said that having spent time in Ireland over the last few weeks, he understood that he had grassroots support and momentum as many people had told him they were disappointed that he was not running for the Áras. After deliberating for little over an hour on Monday evening, Fine Gael's executive council decided it would reopen nominations on Tuesday until September 2nd. Ms Humphreys's candidacy has been strongly backed by Tánaiste and party leader Mr Harris. He said that a remark he made in ruling himself out that 'a day out of Kerry was a day wasted' was a 'a tongue-in-cheek' comment. 'I'd be bringing the Áras to the people as much as the people to the Áras, so that's not a problem at all.' Mr Kelly said that he believes Fine Gael's base would like to see a contest for its presidential candidates. 'I think the people, particularly members of the party, would like to have a contest. We didn't have a contest for a long time now, because we didn't have a contest at the last presidential election seven years ago, we didn't have a contest for the leadership. 'We weren't going to have a contest when Mairead got the nomination, so I think people would like to have a contest. Contests are good for parties, are good for democracies, and I think that I would welcome a contest, and hope I'd be part of it.' In the days following Mairead McGuinness' unfortunate withdrawal as Fine Gael's candidate for President of Ireland on health grounds, I have reflected and given serious consideration to the possibility of seeking the After discussing it with my family and… — Seán Kelly MEP (@SeanKellyMEP)
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Feminist punk fan mail from the Maze Prison
Political resistance has a long and varied history among the Irish people, from artistic defiance through WB Yeats's The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1888) and Seamus Heaney's poetry collection North (1975), to armed and carceral insurrection during the Easter Rising in 1916 or the 1981 hunger strike led by Bobby Sands and fellow Irish republican prisoners. Like other left-leaning and politically active Londoners, the women who comprised feminist punk band The Raincoats were keenly aware of the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland known broadly at the Troubles. Some members of the band were involved in anti-colonial demonstrations as part of the Troops Out Movement, or TOM for short, established in 1973 with the aim of ending British rule in Northern Ireland. Others had their own experiential knowledge of government oppression, migrating from fascist regimes in Portugal and Spain to the relative democracy of England. Yet nothing quite prepared the band for a handwritten piece of fan mail they'd receive upon the release of their first LP, a letter that would tether their own sonic history to one of fierce political struggle in Northern Ireland. The following excerpt from my new biography of the band, Shouting Out Loud: Lives of The Raincoats , chronicles that moment in which feminist punk became unexpectedly linked to the bloodshed of the Troubles. READ MORE Audrey Golden In 1979, The Raincoats received a piece of fan mail at Rough Trade from a writer named Jim Kyle. The return address at the top read 'Compound 19, H.M.P. Maze' – the H-Blocks near Lisburn. The letter had been sent from the feared institution that held political prisoners sentenced for acts of violence during the Troubles: Dear Raincoats, After repeated plays of the new album I just have to write and offer some praise, especially after reading the panning that bigot McCullough gave it when reviewing it in Sounds. I hope his article didn't discourage you too much as I'm sure anyone who reads Sounds regularly knows by now that he allows personality clashes etc. to influence his honesty. Stiff Little Fingers were another among many to incur his juvenile attitudes. As Ana said when replying in Sounds it makes one angry to think that someone like him has the power to influence people's choices. Anyway back to the album itself, which I think is brilliant. When I ordered it from Rough Trade a couple of weeks ago I also bought the new Jam, Fall, and Banshee L. P.s as they are among my favourites. However although they are very good it has been your album which has dominated the turntable and is what I'm listening to as I write this. A lot of things impress me. The actual music itself is first class especially on the Void and No Looking but I think it is the brilliantly structured vocals that makes it all so special. It's hard to explain in words what I feel impresses me in the album the highest accolade I can give it is that I really enjoy it. The standout for me is the excellent Off Duty Trip. Also your version of Lola would make a great single. I hope it's not too long before you release something else. In the meantime I think I'll be playing The Raincoats a lot. Cheerio, Jim The Maze prison was designated for prisoners during the Troubles and held detainees from 1971 to 2000. The Maze, as it was sometimes simply described, began as a series of compounds or cages making up an area known as Long Kesh, which was opened in 1976, replaced later by eight H-Blocks, named for their shape. It was a maximum-security prison that became known globally as a result of the protests occurring there, including the blanket protest and the 1981 hunger strike led by Bobby Sands. The prison was separated into 'cages,' as they were called by republicans, or 'compounds,' as they were called by loyalists. There's very little written information about the names of the prisoners who were held in the H-Blocks, unless they appeared in the media or have since given testimony to the Prisons Memory Archive. The 'Jim Kyle' who mailed the handwritten letter to Rough Trade in London identified his location as 'Compound 19', a loyalist area of the prison. On Shankill Road in West Belfast, a predominantly loyalist area, the ACT Initiative was established in 2008 as a conflict transformation program designed 'to facilitate the civilianisation of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).' Dr. William Mitchell, its director, remains in touch with many of those who were once imprisoned in Compound 19, where he himself was incarcerated for murder at the age of 17. He knows Jim Kyle well, and Jim agreed to Mitchell telling his story, centring on his abiding love of music and The Raincoats. 'Jim and I were actually in the same cell,' William explains. 'And my own personal development, musically, was initiated by Jim Kyle. Because as a 17-year-old, in 1976, he lent me an album by Bob Dylan, Desire .' From that point onward, Jim opened up the musical minds of many prisoners in Compound 19. It's a story, William explains, about difficult stereotypes of young people involved in the stark violence of the Troubles. Like many of their same-age counterparts, the young imprisoned loyalists were beginning to come of age as punk happened, and many saw themselves as part of the cultural revolution taking place in music, despite the very different sides of the conflict on which they committed acts of violence. 'I'd only been in prison about six months, same as Jim, we were arrested the same month in 1975,' William says. 'Both teenagers. I was 17, he was 18. We didn't know each other until we'd come into prison.' Thanks to Jim, William came to understand the deep politics and significance of Dylan's music, 'this protest singer who, as soon as I dropped the needle on Desire, sang, pistol shots rang out in a barroom, enter Paddy Valentine from the end of the hall. It was an epiphany moment, and it literally changed my world, changed my life. Through his music, I developed an interest in the characters in the songs and became introduced to William Burroughs, TS Eliot, Shakespeare, Arthur Rimbaud, all of these people who, as a young man, really fascinated me.' How was anyone listening to records in the H-Blocks? William explains, 'You were literally caged,' but they could roam freely within the compound and had access to study and educational facilities. There was a markedly large population of very young men, teenagers, and otherwise very young adults, like William and Jim, who'd been recruited during what William describes as 'the worst years of the conflict,' from 1972 to 1975. And those prisoners in Compound 19 together, around the same age, 'were drawn to the punk movement as a subculture, and we looked at it from afar with the disappointment that we couldn't engage in it. But we could listen to it and hear it on albums,' William says. Vicky Aspinall on violin, Palmolive on drums and Gina Birch on bass of The Raincoats performing at Alexandra Palace, London, UK, 16th June 1980. (Photo by David Corio/Redferns) Jim loved punk and post-punk, but he was also a well-rounded lover of music. William describes it, warmly, as a 'quite eclectic taste,' explaining, 'Jim used to religiously get the NME and Melody Maker and look for mail order opportunities, but of course, Rough Trade was his big focus. And we had this camaraderie, this group of young men. So any time someone got an album, they shared it. That record player was the only one we had between 80 prisoners,' he says as he points at a small suitcase record player behind him on a shelf. The record player 'lived' in the study area of Compound 19, and there was a hardback book that sat beside it. If you wanted to listen to a record, you'd put your name in the book and the hour you wanted it. Jim introduced the sounds of 'alternative music,' and music that was making a political impact in the UK, 'including, of course, The Raincoats,' William says. Jim recently reminded William of playing him The Raincoats' cover of Lola, but he emphasised that what drew him to The Raincoats initially was the Fairytale EP, 'their first single.' But he loved it all, and he sent the fan letter after receiving the self-titled LP from Rough Trade. Throughout his time in the Maze, he kept in direct contact with Sue Donne, who handled Rough Trade mail order. He gratefully recalls how Sue began sending him 'freebies' and discounting records for Jim to give a listen to. Did the records get censored? All the records would be opened and examined, and some things would be censored. But if there wasn't anything obvious – thank goodness for the subtlety of The Raincoats' political interventions – the records would be delivered to the prisoner who ordered them. But not before they'd been desecrated. William holds up some examples of records that had come into the Maze. There are large black redaction marks where the guards essentially made scribbles to damage the records. The prisoner's number would also be written largely on the front. 'But it actually gives them a kind of authenticity now,' he reflects. Jim would sometimes put on The Raincoats in the evening for everyone– 'And you can just imagine some of the criticism he would have got from the older folk,' William says. But it didn't deter Jim. The music was that important. He was imprisoned for about four years in total. During that time, he brought the world of Rough Trade to the prison, and he opened the sonic and political minds of many young prisoners in the larger compound with him. Jim loved music so much, and learned so much about it from the records he ordered and shared with fellow prisoners in the H-Blocks, that he opened a record shop in Smithfield Market in Belfast after he was released from the Maze. The market 'was a hard place,' William explains, with a long and violent history during the Troubles. 'It would get bombed every other month during the conflict,' he says, but after the Good Friday Agreement, it became a space of peace. And, thanks to Jim, of music. William used to visit the shop regularly until it closed, and he bought a fair amount of his current record collection from Jim. What was the shop called? 'Jim's Records.' That piece of fan mail, housed carefully in The Raincoats' archive for nearly 50 years, is a reminder of the stark power, and often unpredictable political resonances, that music can have. Had many tried to guess the identity of a Raincoats fan imprisoned in Long Kesh in 1979, they'd likely have made the assumption the writer had been a member of the IRA, whose politics seemed to align most closely to their own. Yet the truth is much more complex, and it reveals both the strengths and limitations of political ideology – and the assumptions we make – in moments of great unrest. Shouting Out Loud Shouting Out Loud: Lives of The Raincoats is published by White Rabbit
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Fergus Finlay sought Labour Party run for presidency
Labour Party grandee Fergus Finlay asked Ivana Bacik in January if he could run for President for the party. Mr Finlay, who had also sought the party's nomination for the 2011 contest and considered a run in 2018, said he was 'very disappointed' to see Labour supporting Catherine Connolly. The former head of Mary Robinson's historic 1990 campaign said he did not know what Ms Connolly had done to 'deserve' the Labour Party's support. Speaking on RTÉ's Behind The Story podcast this week, Mr Finlay revealed he had approached party leader Ms Bacik in January indicating he was open to running for President. READ MORE 'I wanted to say that Labour should contest, must contest, must do everything we possibly can to contest, recognising all the difficulties that we don't have 20 Oireachtas votes sewn up there. But there were a lot of Oireachtas votes in play at that time,' Mr Finlay said. 'There was no other left-wing candidate in the field at that time – I wanted to say that Labour should contest, and I wanted to be considered as a candidate.' Mr Finlay, who added he felt no 'entitlement to anything', said it quickly became clear to him that his proposal was 'going nowhere'. 'I think [Ms Bacik] felt that this was not a winnable situation for Labour. Maybe she felt it wasn't winnable for Labour with me. Maybe she felt that I was a burned-out waste of space! I have no idea. She's far too polite ever to say anything like that, but it became clear to me very quickly that it was going nowhere.' Mr Finlay had lost out on the Labour Party's nomination in 2010, ahead of Michael D Higgins winning his first term. Mr Finlay would also later reveal he had also considered putting himself forward in 2018, before it became clear to him that President Higgins would seek a second term. Mr Finlay said he believed in the role of the President to 'get the best out of people', and that if he had a criticism of President Higgins it was that 'he didn't do enough of that', particularly in terms of national morale during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr Finlay said he was 'very disappointed' that Labour had decided to row in behind Independent left-wing candidate Ms Connolly. 'There's a lot of stuff I don't agree with Catherine Connolly about, there's a lot of stuff I admire her for. But Catherine Connolly left the Labour Party because we wouldn't give her a nomination to run alongside Michael D Higgins, and she has never had a good word to say about the Labour Party from that moment on,' he said. Mr Finlay said it would have been a 'crazy, suicidal decision' to give Ms Connolly a nomination, which would have meant there was 'no chance of anybody winning that seat'. He said Ms Connolly 'couldn't bring herself to accept that', and she 'has never had a good word to say about the Labour Party since'. 'And now we're backing her. And I have no problem with members of the Labour Party going out and voting for Catherine Connolly, none in the wide, Earthly world. But I don't know what she's done to deserve our support, to be absolutely honest with you.'
