Money talks — and UK audience may wish to listen to Mary Lou's McDonald's Irish unity call
It's far from coincidental that Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald popped up on Good Morning Britain after the Twelfth weekend, appearing on July 14, Bastille Day, marking the events that began the French Revolution.
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BreakingNews.ie
3 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Private properties used to house Ukrainian refugees rise by 17 per cent, figures show
Concern has been voiced about the impact of a Government scheme for housing refugees from Ukraine on the private rental sector, as new figures show the number of private properties being used has increased by 17 per cent since the start of the year. A record number of over 21,800 dwellings are currently being used to accommodate Ukrainian refugees under the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) scheme, according to the latest figures from the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. Advertisement It represents an increase of over 3,100 additional properties being involved in the ARP scheme since January. Owners or tenants of such properties were entitled to claim a monthly payment of €800 for housing Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Ireland under the EU Temporary Protection Directive but the sum has been reduced to €600 per month since June 1. A total of 21,803 properties are now being used as part of the ARP scheme to provide homes to almost 39,600 Ukrainian refugees with 16,900 hosts in receipt of monthly payments. The figures show that over €339 million has been paid to date to 26,100 recipients for hosting 56,700 temporary protection beneficiaries since the scheme was launched in July 2022. Advertisement The figures were provided in response to a parliamentary question by Sinn Féin's justice, home affairs and migration spokesperson, Matt Carthy. Not surprisingly, the largest number of properties involved in the scheme are located in Dublin with almost 3,300 currently housing refugees from Ukraine. The second highest number is in Donegal where 2,070 private properties are in use followed by Cork (1,611) Mayo (1,425) and Kerry (1,308). The smallest number is 128 in Roscommon. Advertisement The figures indicate that approximately 1 per cent of the Republic's 2.1 million housing stock is being used to house Ukrainian refugees with varying differences across the country. The proportion ranges from an estimated 2.4 per cent of all dwellings in Donegal to just 0.4 per cent of all homes in Roscommon. Other counties with a high proportion of their housing stock being used to accommodate refugees from Ukraine are Leitrim (2.2 per cent), Mayo (2.1 per cent) and Carlow and Longford (both 2.0 per cent). Less than 1 per cent of residences in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Meath, Kilkenny, and Wicklow are involved in the scheme. Advertisement The number of properties being used to house Ukrainian refugees has risen by at least 10 per cent since the start of the year in all counties with the exception of Kildare and Kilkenny where the increases were at a slower rate. Mr Carthy said Sinn Féin has never received a satisfactory answer from the Minister of Justice about the impact of the ARP on the private rental sector. The Cavan-Monaghan TD has sharply criticised how the EU Temporary Protection Directive has been operated in Ireland and claimed the ARP is 'deeply unfair and caused huge divisions within communities.' 'It gave Ukrainians access to housing supports without a means test that was available to no other person including those on lower wages trying to secure housing,' said Mr Carthy. Advertisement He claimed the measure was also driving up rents particularly in parts of the country that traditionally had lower rents. Mr Carthy said the numbers in some areas like Donegal were huge with over 2,000 properties being used for the ARP. He added: 'These figures also show that there are significantly more properties than property owners coming under the scheme. There are 21,803 properties being provided by 16,900 owners which clearly means that a significant number of people have more than one property under this scheme. 'It indicates that landlords are availing of this scheme because it financially benefits them while avoiding the normal obligations and responsibilities regarding tenancies,' said Mr Carthy. Asked by the Sinn Féin TD about the impact of the ARP scheme on the private rented sector , the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O'Callaghan, said his department was awaiting the outcome of an analysis being carried out by the Department of Housing in conjunction with the Residential Tenancies Board. 'There is ongoing engagement by my department with the Department of Housing in respect of the scheme,' said Mr O'Callaghan. Property owners or tenants were originally paid a rate of €400 per month when the scheme was introduced before it was increased to €800 per month in December 2022 and lowered to €600 last month. Accommodation must be provided for at least six months and meet the required standards in relation to structural condition, fire safety, ventilation and various facilities. The ARP scheme has been extended to March 31st, 2026, in line with the extension of the EU Temporary Protection Directive Separate figures provided by Mr O'Callaghan earlier this month show that the State had contracts with 670 different commercial properties including hotels, guesthouses, B&Bs and self-catering accommodation at the start of July to provide temporary accommodation to persons fleeing the war in Ukraine in addition to the ARP scheme.
The National
13 hours ago
- The National
Backbench MPs should remain loyal to constituents, not parties
The very use of that term speaks volumes about how the party leadership may regard both its troops and any perceived dissension from the party line. This follows a year-long freeze of her Labour credentials dating from a letter Diane wrote to The Observer in early 2023. It also follows the suspension of seven other 'miscreants' who had the temerity to suggest the two-child cap should be history and had no place under a Labour Government. And, of course, the massive recent rebellion over changes to welfare eligibility. Featuring, among very many others, all of the latest MPs to lose the whip. READ MORE: 'Time to take action': What it was like at the national Palestine demo in Edinburgh At which stage, the Labour leadership earnestly assured its flock that it would listen more intently to its backbenchers and absolutely didn't regard the latter as mere 'voter fodder'. Abbott's letter said, not very controversially, that the kind of lifelong racism encountered by black and brown people, differs from the kind of prejudice suffered by Irish people, Travellers and Jewish people. 'Any fair-minded person will know what I meant,' she later said in a statement to BBC Newsnight. Indeed. Surely a textbook example of 'we ken whit she meant'. (Image: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire) In an interview for James Naughtie's Reflections programme last Thursday, she said she had no regrets about these remarks despite having apologised for them at the time. She reiterated that face colour is an immediate red rag to racists in a way that their identity probably isn't for other minorities. Cue portions of the Labour roof falling on her head. Again. It may be that her real crime was a historical closeness to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. At any rate, the Mother Of The House has now been unceremoniously flung oot the Labour house. You might think that a government with a large majority of seats on under 34% of votes cast in a poll where fewer than 60% of electors bothered to use their vote might display some humility. Rather than take a sledgehammer to crack people denounced as irritating nutcases. Especially since their MPs – more than half of them in parliament for the first time – are there to represent a constituency where two-thirds of electors either didn't vote for them, or simply didn't vote. The Labour Party's draconian attitude to dissenters suggests complacency and a tendency for overreaction. It also suggests they hope their hardline stance will result in fewer Labour MPs willing to take risks. Not so much the firm smack of government as political punishment beatings. From a Scottish perspective, the most instructive victim is Brian Leishman, the luckless Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth. Grangemouth, you will know, was Scotland's solitary refinery, a place the Scottish Labour leader promised to save during the election campaign. Leishman, unsurprisingly, thought he would therefore be on safe ground when he vocally supported the workforce. Alas, that, plus his stance on welfare reform, meant he would instead get his jotters. Without warning. He said, thereafter, that he hadn't been elected to make people poorer. He also argued that he'd been elected 'to be a voice for my constituents across [[Alloa]] and [[Grangemouth]]'. Not, it seems, if that voice fails to chime with the latest stance of his leader. Anas Sarwar's silence on this matter, at the time of writing, has been positively deafening. READ MORE: 55 arrested in Westminster as protests grow over Palestine Action ban The [[Alloa]] and [[Grangemouth]] MP says that the Scottish Labour leader has not been in touch since a WhatsApp message last January. You might have thought he'd pick up the phone over Grangemouth at least, if not over the latest party row which saw one of his own Scots Labour representatives publicly humiliated. However, Leishman says he still supports Sir Keir's leadership and 'I will be out campaigning to get Scottish Labour candidates elected for Holyrood next year. I'll be doing everything I possibly can to get Anas into Bute House'. Each to their own and all that. Also interesting is the role and function of MPs of all parties. They don't have a statutory one, but they do have a code of conduct based on seven principles of 'selflessness, integrity, objectivity, honesty, accountability, openness and leadership.' However, the code also acknowledges the challenges faced by MPs when the needs and views of their constituents come into conflict with those of the party whose rosette they sported on election night. Or, as the code puts it: 'As members of a political party, MPs are expected to support and promote the policies and principles of their party. However, this should not come at the expense of their duties to their constituents or the wider public interest.' So let's suppose that the chap representing the workforce at Grangemouth was doing little more than exercising his duty to his constituents and the wider public interest. Not even to mention demonstrating integrity objectivity, and accountability. The code does understand the complexity of the MP's role in a way their parties may not: 'At times a constituent's demands may conflict with party policy and your MP will have to decide where their first loyalty should lie.' And woe betide any MP if their first loyalty is not to their party, it seems. Thus far, the people who found themselves minus the Labour whip were, to a man and woman, all demonstrating their commitment to what used to be thought of as traditional Labour values. For other quite mouthy MPs like the usually admirable Jess Phillips there was instead a plea for party unity and a respect for party discipline. So says the MP who resigned from the Labour front bench in 2023 over the carnage in Gaza, having backed an SNP-instigated vote on a ceasefire. Then she said: 'On this occasion, I must vote with my constituents, my head, and my heart which has felt as if it were breaking over the last four weeks with the horror of the situation in Israel and Palestine.' This time, the tune seems to have changed and she says: 'Constantly taking to the airwaves and slagging off your own government – I have to say, what did you think was going to happen?' Maybe, Jess, they hadn't realised voting for the wider public interest shouldn't be a hanging offence in a party which once described itself as 'a broad church'. Or, as Abbott wrote on a social media post: 'Silencing dissent is not leadership. It's control.' But voting with your constituents, your head and your heart is not apparently an option for others whose inner voice tells them their party has simply got it wrong. Angela Rayner, one time darling of the Labour left, confined herself to saying that the Abbott situation presented 'a real challenge for the party' (sure is)! READ MORE: The Chancellor's words don't line up with her actions Rayner is an enigmatic case in point. She was, after all, a prime mover in getting the party to admit Abbott as a Labour candidate after her last long suspension. Labour's very own working-class woman has obviously decided that she can exert more influence as a deputy leader than a serial rebel with a number of causes. You might think that she had rather more in common with Abbott than, for instance, the current Chancellor. But for heavens sake, don't say so out loud if you have a Labour Party card about your person. The moral of this latest debacle is that if you get elected to parliament as a Labour candidate, please be sure to check in your conscience at the door. It has no place in the chamber these days.
Times
17 hours ago
- Times
Mary Lou McDonald or Catherine Connolly for president? Sinn Fein can't decide
Sinn Fein members are split over whether the party should put its leader, Mary Lou McDonald, forward as a presidential candidate in the forthcoming election. The Sinn Fein ard comhairle, which is the party's governing body, is expected to discuss presidential plans at a meeting this month, but senior figures believe the majority of members favour backing a candidate of the left rather than McDonald. While the majority of Sinn Fein TDs who spoke to The Sunday Times said they believed backing a candidate of the left was the most likely outcome, there was a significant minority who felt McDonald should put her name forward. Party sources believe if the preferences of the parliamentary party were tallied, there would be a 65 per cent to 35 per cent split in favour of backing a candidate agreed by the left, such as Catherine Connolly, the left-wing independent who formally launched her campaign last week. Others believed it would be closer to 60 per cent against McDonald running, and 40 per cent in favour of it. 'There is a split there on the wider question of whether we should run our own candidate or not. There are a lot of people within the parliamentary party who think we should support Catherine Connolly,' a Sinn Fein source said. 'Having said that, the argument is being made that from the perspective of what we are trying to achieve, a united Ireland, this would be a great opportunity to further that, and that we would be mad not to take it.' The senior party member said Connolly was a good choice because of her track record on social issues and pointed to her opposition to the family and care referendums. 'She was bang on when she expressed her concerns and we were really caught out there,' the source said. • Irish presidential election candidates 2025 — who is up for it? 'We are also trying to make an argument to the electorate that there is a bloc there on the left, among the opposition, who could work together and form a government after the next general election, and backing Catherine would really help that argument.' A second source said some TDs argued McDonald would make a formidable candidate. 'If we were to run someone, realistically it would have to be Michelle O'Neill [the Stormont first minister] or Mary Lou,' they said. 'If Mary Lou ran, she would wipe the floor in debates and sweep up votes across the board. It would be a good moment for the party.' Among the grassroots of the party, however, there are sharper opinions. One local rural party member said they believed there was 'no way' McDonald would run and that the conversation was not one grounded in reality. Another grassroots member said that in the course of the party's internal consultations on the presidency, it was never once suggested that McDonald could be the party's candidate and that the debate had been started by the media. Although members of the ard comhairle are expected to discuss the plans at the end of this month, it is likely Sinn Fein will wait until August to announce its intentions. Connolly, the independent Galway West TD, formally announced her candidacy last week and said she would welcome the backing of Sinn Fein. She said she believed a united Ireland was on the cards 'soon' in comments widely viewed as an attempt to woo Sinn Fein. Connolly also made a presentation to the Labour Party last week in an effort to win the support of its TDs. Labour is planning to launch a consultative process with its membership before coming to a final position. Fine Gael has nominated Mairead McGuinness, the former European commissioner, as its candidate. Her name will officially be put forward for ratification at an event in September, and this will mark the start of her presidential election campaign. 'Subject to my candidacy being ratified by the party in early September, I very much look forward to setting out my vision,' McGuinness said.
