Latest news with #FiannaFail
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Housing emergency? Ireland is not even acting at the level of mildly urgent
Housing , the Taoiseach and Tánaiste pronounce regularly, is the Government's 'number one priority'. Then what does it say about the Coalition when things are so demonstrably getting worse? There is a growing tendency around Government Buildings and Leinster House to mutter about the performance of new housing minister James Browne , and not just among Fine Gaelers. Not up to the job, they sniff. A bit at sea. Overwhelmed. Maybe they're right – probably too soon to make a fair judgment – but this isn't Browne's failure. It's a whole of Government failure and it's being going on for a long time. READ MORE Are there viable pleas in mitigation? Sure. The bust wiped out the construction industry (though that was a decade and a half ago). Covid froze things for a year and a half. The planning laws and processes seem designed to prevent the provision of housing. Inflation has driven up costs, rogering the developers' sums. Banks are too slow to lend. The courts seem eager to quash planning permissions, often for flimsy reasons. But does all that excuse the Government's performance? Not at this stage. We are heading for a decade of failure to get to grips with a growing social disaster. That's long enough to fix things, even in Ireland. This is a Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil failure and they are running out of time to fix it. The evidence that things are going in the wrong direction is mounting lately. Last week, reported that the cost of renting increased by an average of 3.4 per cent in the first three months of 2025, with the increases taking the monthly average open-market rent to over €2,000 for the first time. Meanwhile, despite the skyrocketing rents, home ownership is in freefall among the young. This is deeply socially destabilising. A friend reports from a terrace of two-up-two-downers in Ringsend that there is a queue down the street of prospective renters for a nearby house. The rent? Nearly three grand a month. The figures for the delivery of new housing, meanwhile, are also going in the wrong direction. On Tuesday, the ESRI told an Oireachtas committee that there will be no big increase in housing supply this year or next year. The numbers might get to 34,000 this year and 37,000 in 2026, but 'most of the risks weigh on the downside'. [ ESRI to warn Government of no major uptick in housing supply this year or next Opens in new window ] And even if those numbers are achieved, that would require 78,000 houses to be completed for each of the following three years to meet the Government's promises of 300,000 units during its term. What, do we think, are the chances of that happening? Meanwhile, water utility Uisce Éireann has said that it may be unable to grant any new connections in the Dublin area by 2028 . And the secretary general of the Department of Climate and Energy told the Oireachtas committee that the squeeze on energy connections was such that they might have to choose between housing and artificial intelligence (AI). Data centres are scheduled to guzzle 30 per cent of our electricity by 2030. In recent days I've spoken to two housing developers, each responsible for thousands of units and desperate to build more. Both are pretty much tearing their hair out at the planning, bureaucratic and legal barriers put in their way. One says he cannot plan anything because of the lack of certainty over what's happening with rent pressure zones and possible tax changes. Both measures were flagged as possibilities five months ago; there is still no sign of a decision. 'We can't take a view on whether projects are viable because we have no certainty on anything,' he says. Even on existing projects, the processes are ridiculously time-consuming. He has been waiting seven months for clarity on one design feature. The entire industry is 'sitting on its hands', he says. The other developer spent three years preparing an application for permission for 500 units. The planning inspector recommended the go ahead. But An Bord Pleanála nixed it. The board could have put conditions on it and construction would be under way by now, but instead it refused outright. So, back to the drawing board. 'This is not a system that promotes supply,' the developer says. 'It is a system that retards supply.' [ Ireland's housing perma-crisis returns to centre of political agenda Opens in new window ] Everyone talks about an emergency, but the reality is that at no level is the system set up to deliver housing at scale and quickly. In fact, the very opposite seems to be the case. There is simply no way that the current system of housing provision – from finance to planning to utility provision to actual construction – can solve the housing crisis. There is a very quiet school of thought in parts of the Government that says the political fallout from all this is actually already baked in – that the people who are most concerned about housing don't vote for the Government parties anyway. I don't think that's right. I think there are a lot of people that gave Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael the benefit of the doubt on housing at the last election, but will turn against them if the crisis is not substantially eased by the next election. But even if I'm wrong about that, there is surely an overwhelming moral responsibility on the Government to fix housing. The only way to do this is to begin actually acting like it is an emergency. Special planning powers, tax incentives, rapid approval for expenditure – whatever it takes. Emergency? Come off it. We're not at the level of mildly urgent.
Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Health
- Irish Daily Mirror
HSE official claims 'Grace' allegations 'debunked' by commission
A HSE official said 'lurid allegations' about a vulnerable woman at the centre of abuse allegations had been 'debunked' by a commission of investigation into her care. An internal briefing note said the length of time and sky-high cost of the inquiry made it unlikely the government would carry out any further probe. But it said claims raised in the Dail about 'Grace' living in a 'house of horrors' were reviewed by the commission and were unsupported. The briefing said findings had 'flatly contradicted' statements made by the Fianna Fail TD John McGuinness. It added: 'The allegations made by McGuinness and others should be a main topic and the rationale why such statements were made.' The document also said the media would 'find it difficult to get an immediate steer' on the findings because of its vast scope. It added that one area the HSE was likely to come under attack over was the handling of requests for records under Freedom of Information laws. The briefing – sent to HSE chief Bernard .Gloster – said this had been 'utterly inexcusable'. It added: 'There were delays which were inexcusable and were caused by confusion rather than any effort to subvert.' Mr McGuinness said he stood over the claims he made about Grace's care. He added: '[The commission] is to deny and deflect and to try and discredit somebody who was central to the questioning of their officials right from the very beginning. 'It exposes the culture within the HSE, which is to deny everything. I wasn't just saying those things; I didn't just make that up. 'I was given that information by whistleblowers, by family members, by other staff who had concerns.' The internal HSE briefing said there was likely to be significant focus on the cost of the inquiry, bills for which are already in the order of nearly €14 million. It added that was before the HSE claimed for costs and excluded internal staff time bills. It added: 'The cost and duration of the commission should mitigate against any political decision to progress to [the] next phase.' An email from Mr Gloster marked 'strictly confidential' in advance of publication said he wanted information on the status and care arrangements of all 47 individuals referred to. Mr Gloster said he was seeking a panel of people to review the report to determine whether any current serving officials of the HSE would need to be dealt with under 'accountability procedures.'
South Wales Guardian
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
RTE executives defend newsroom promo expected to cost 77,000 euro
The advertisement aims to portray 'a day in the life' of three RTE journalists, including RTE Europe Editor Tony Connolly, and has been in production for months. RTE's director of news and current affairs Deirdre McCarthy said concerns had been raised by staff but she rejected the ad was 'fake news'. 'Some issues were raised and an awful lot of the misinformation has come from a leak to the media from an internal editorial meeting that took place last Thursday,' she said. Deputy director of RTE Adrian Lynch, who said he is responsible for the ad, said three to four people are currently in Brussels to film part of the promo. He said the only external inputs in the production of the promo are in camera crew. RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst said he was 'infuriated' by the reaction to the promo clip. 'A significant amount of the press coverage has been totally inaccurate about it,' he told TDs and Senators at the committee. When asked about props used during the filming by Fianna Fail TD Peter 'Chap' Cleere, Mr Bakhurst said two plants were moved from elsewhere in RTE to cover up electrical points during filming before being put back. 'Even when you're filming news interviews, sometimes people wear make-up, they have lighting, you might move a plant so the shot looks better, and I would expect that of our highly professional promotions team. 'There's been some coverage about, you know, extras being brought in. 'The proper conversations were had about this between our marketing team, who were doing this, and the news management team about how we were going to do it. 'The initial request was, can some journalists from the newsroom sit in the background – they're going to be blurred out – can they sit in the background while we're filming this for several hours and the answer was 'No our journalists are too busy'.' He also said RTE had 'just spent 50,000 euro doing up parts of the newsroom' and the cost of filming the promo came out of RTE's annual two million euro marketing budget. Media committee chairman Alan Kelly said the newsroom promo 'really has annoyed a lot of people', adding it seems 'bananas' to the public that the camera crew is from outside RTE. Mr Bakhurst said it is not 'bananas' and that getting external experts is 'the most efficient way of spending public money'. Senior RTE figures appeared before the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday for the first time since the new Dail was formed. In 2023 the broadcaster was sharply criticised over a series of governance and financial scandals which further fuelled a years-long trend in declining TV licence revenue. Among the issues RTE was criticised for was a commercial arrangement that saw the broadcaster underwrite sponsor payments that were to be paid to then Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy. This ultimately led to the organisation paying 150,000 euro to him when the sponsor chose not to renew the deal after one year. Tubridy had previously indicated a willingness to return the two 75,000 euro payments to RTE if the personal appearance events did not materialise. The committee heard the 150,000 euro payments to Tubridy had not been repaid to RTE. Mr Bakhurst said: 'The answer is Ryan Tubridy has not paid that amount back. We've asked him, we have no legal basis as I have said previously, but I would like him to pay it back obviously.' RTE executives' appearance before the committee on Wednesday came after the broadcaster confirmed it had written down 3.6 million euro on a partly failed IT system. Mr Bakhurst told the committee while the write-down of public money was 'very unfortunate', it was 'very different from 2023'. He said the main part of the project, an updated finance system, was delivered while the HR element was not. 'Big projects, and particularly big IT projects, can go wrong, and what I've looked back at is how the organisation tried to salvage that, and what are the lessons learned from that.' Director general Kevin Bakhurst was among the RTE executives to address the committee (PA) He said one example of the changes made as a result is that every month the full list of significant capital projects now go to the leadership team. RTE's HR director Eimear Cusack told the committee the project was properly managed. 'I was responsible for the HR element and the HR requirements. We went through a tender process,' she said. 'There were a number of vendors who participated in that process. 'The final bids, we had external evaluation of those bids to ensure that we were picking the right providers and that was the result. 'The project ran into a number of difficulties. 'I think, that there were a number of issues that arose, particularly between the contractor and the subcontractor.' When put to her that the spec was not right, the right contractor was not chosen and it was not properly project managed, she said: 'I couldn't agree with that. 'We put in our requirements, the contractor and the subcontractor who won the tender said that they could deliver on those requirements. 'Ultimately, the finance system was delivered upon. 'The HR system, they could not deliver on, but that was not known at the time that they signed up and they said they could deliver on it.' Chairman of the RTE board Terence O'Rourke, RTE chief financial officer Mari Hurley and director of commercial Gavin Deans also appeared before committee. Ms Hurley said there was a 4% decline in TV licence fee revenues in 2024 compared to 2023. 'The more significant declines that have been experienced in '23 have been averted,' she said.
Rhyl Journal
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Rhyl Journal
RTE executives defend newsroom promo expected to cost 77,000 euro
The advertisement aims to portray 'a day in the life' of three RTE journalists, including RTE Europe Editor Tony Connolly, and has been in production for months. RTE's director of news and current affairs Deirdre McCarthy said concerns had been raised by staff but she rejected the ad was 'fake news'. 'Some issues were raised and an awful lot of the misinformation has come from a leak to the media from an internal editorial meeting that took place last Thursday,' she said. Deputy director of RTE Adrian Lynch, who said he is responsible for the ad, said three to four people are currently in Brussels to film part of the promo. He said the only external inputs in the production of the promo are in camera crew. RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst said he was 'infuriated' by the reaction to the promo clip. 'A significant amount of the press coverage has been totally inaccurate about it,' he told TDs and Senators at the committee. When asked about props used during the filming by Fianna Fail TD Peter 'Chap' Cleere, Mr Bakhurst said two plants were moved from elsewhere in RTE to cover up electrical points during filming before being put back. 'Even when you're filming news interviews, sometimes people wear make-up, they have lighting, you might move a plant so the shot looks better, and I would expect that of our highly professional promotions team. 'There's been some coverage about, you know, extras being brought in. 'The proper conversations were had about this between our marketing team, who were doing this, and the news management team about how we were going to do it. 'The initial request was, can some journalists from the newsroom sit in the background – they're going to be blurred out – can they sit in the background while we're filming this for several hours and the answer was 'No our journalists are too busy'.' He also said RTE had 'just spent 50,000 euro doing up parts of the newsroom' and the cost of filming the promo came out of RTE's annual two million euro marketing budget. Media committee chairman Alan Kelly said the newsroom promo 'really has annoyed a lot of people', adding it seems 'bananas' to the public that the camera crew is from outside RTE. Mr Bakhurst said it is not 'bananas' and that getting external experts is 'the most efficient way of spending public money'. Senior RTE figures appeared before the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday for the first time since the new Dail was formed. In 2023 the broadcaster was sharply criticised over a series of governance and financial scandals which further fuelled a years-long trend in declining TV licence revenue. Among the issues RTE was criticised for was a commercial arrangement that saw the broadcaster underwrite sponsor payments that were to be paid to then Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy. This ultimately led to the organisation paying 150,000 euro to him when the sponsor chose not to renew the deal after one year. Tubridy had previously indicated a willingness to return the two 75,000 euro payments to RTE if the personal appearance events did not materialise. The committee heard the 150,000 euro payments to Tubridy had not been repaid to RTE. Mr Bakhurst said: 'The answer is Ryan Tubridy has not paid that amount back. We've asked him, we have no legal basis as I have said previously, but I would like him to pay it back obviously.' RTE executives' appearance before the committee on Wednesday came after the broadcaster confirmed it had written down 3.6 million euro on a partly failed IT system. Mr Bakhurst told the committee while the write-down of public money was 'very unfortunate', it was 'very different from 2023'. He said the main part of the project, an updated finance system, was delivered while the HR element was not. 'Big projects, and particularly big IT projects, can go wrong, and what I've looked back at is how the organisation tried to salvage that, and what are the lessons learned from that.' He said one example of the changes made as a result is that every month the full list of significant capital projects now go to the leadership team. RTE's HR director Eimear Cusack told the committee the project was properly managed. 'I was responsible for the HR element and the HR requirements. We went through a tender process,' she said. 'There were a number of vendors who participated in that process. 'The final bids, we had external evaluation of those bids to ensure that we were picking the right providers and that was the result. 'The project ran into a number of difficulties. 'I think, that there were a number of issues that arose, particularly between the contractor and the subcontractor.' When put to her that the spec was not right, the right contractor was not chosen and it was not properly project managed, she said: 'I couldn't agree with that. 'We put in our requirements, the contractor and the subcontractor who won the tender said that they could deliver on those requirements. 'Ultimately, the finance system was delivered upon. 'The HR system, they could not deliver on, but that was not known at the time that they signed up and they said they could deliver on it.' Chairman of the RTE board Terence O'Rourke, RTE chief financial officer Mari Hurley and director of commercial Gavin Deans also appeared before committee. Ms Hurley said there was a 4% decline in TV licence fee revenues in 2024 compared to 2023. 'The more significant declines that have been experienced in '23 have been averted,' she said.
Leader Live
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
RTE executives defend newsroom promo expected to cost 77,000 euro
The advertisement aims to portray 'a day in the life' of three RTE journalists, including RTE Europe Editor Tony Connolly, and has been in production for months. RTE's director of news and current affairs Deirdre McCarthy said concerns had been raised by staff but she rejected the ad was 'fake news'. 'Some issues were raised and an awful lot of the misinformation has come from a leak to the media from an internal editorial meeting that took place last Thursday,' she said. Deputy director of RTE Adrian Lynch, who said he is responsible for the ad, said three to four people are currently in Brussels to film part of the promo. He said the only external inputs in the production of the promo are in camera crew. RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst said he was 'infuriated' by the reaction to the promo clip. 'A significant amount of the press coverage has been totally inaccurate about it,' he told TDs and Senators at the committee. When asked about props used during the filming by Fianna Fail TD Peter 'Chap' Cleere, Mr Bakhurst said two plants were moved from elsewhere in RTE to cover up electrical points during filming before being put back. 'Even when you're filming news interviews, sometimes people wear make-up, they have lighting, you might move a plant so the shot looks better, and I would expect that of our highly professional promotions team. 'There's been some coverage about, you know, extras being brought in. 'The proper conversations were had about this between our marketing team, who were doing this, and the news management team about how we were going to do it. 'The initial request was, can some journalists from the newsroom sit in the background – they're going to be blurred out – can they sit in the background while we're filming this for several hours and the answer was 'No our journalists are too busy'.' He also said RTE had 'just spent 50,000 euro doing up parts of the newsroom' and the cost of filming the promo came out of RTE's annual two million euro marketing budget. Media committee chairman Alan Kelly said the newsroom promo 'really has annoyed a lot of people', adding it seems 'bananas' to the public that the camera crew is from outside RTE. Mr Bakhurst said it is not 'bananas' and that getting external experts is 'the most efficient way of spending public money'. Senior RTE figures appeared before the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday for the first time since the new Dail was formed. In 2023 the broadcaster was sharply criticised over a series of governance and financial scandals which further fuelled a years-long trend in declining TV licence revenue. Among the issues RTE was criticised for was a commercial arrangement that saw the broadcaster underwrite sponsor payments that were to be paid to then Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy. This ultimately led to the organisation paying 150,000 euro to him when the sponsor chose not to renew the deal after one year. Tubridy had previously indicated a willingness to return the two 75,000 euro payments to RTE if the personal appearance events did not materialise. The committee heard the 150,000 euro payments to Tubridy had not been repaid to RTE. Mr Bakhurst said: 'The answer is Ryan Tubridy has not paid that amount back. We've asked him, we have no legal basis as I have said previously, but I would like him to pay it back obviously.' RTE executives' appearance before the committee on Wednesday came after the broadcaster confirmed it had written down 3.6 million euro on a partly failed IT system. Mr Bakhurst told the committee while the write-down of public money was 'very unfortunate', it was 'very different from 2023'. He said the main part of the project, an updated finance system, was delivered while the HR element was not. 'Big projects, and particularly big IT projects, can go wrong, and what I've looked back at is how the organisation tried to salvage that, and what are the lessons learned from that.' He said one example of the changes made as a result is that every month the full list of significant capital projects now go to the leadership team. RTE's HR director Eimear Cusack told the committee the project was properly managed. 'I was responsible for the HR element and the HR requirements. We went through a tender process,' she said. 'There were a number of vendors who participated in that process. 'The final bids, we had external evaluation of those bids to ensure that we were picking the right providers and that was the result. 'The project ran into a number of difficulties. 'I think, that there were a number of issues that arose, particularly between the contractor and the subcontractor.' When put to her that the spec was not right, the right contractor was not chosen and it was not properly project managed, she said: 'I couldn't agree with that. 'We put in our requirements, the contractor and the subcontractor who won the tender said that they could deliver on those requirements. 'Ultimately, the finance system was delivered upon. 'The HR system, they could not deliver on, but that was not known at the time that they signed up and they said they could deliver on it.' Chairman of the RTE board Terence O'Rourke, RTE chief financial officer Mari Hurley and director of commercial Gavin Deans also appeared before committee. Ms Hurley said there was a 4% decline in TV licence fee revenues in 2024 compared to 2023. 'The more significant declines that have been experienced in '23 have been averted,' she said.
