Sir, – Una Mullally ("Political stupor behind staff shortages and high rent", Opinion & Analysis, ,October 18th) asks where is the affordable housing for a minimum wage worker earning €408 a week?
South Dublin County Council is the landlord for 9,600 council homes where such workers would pay a weekly rent of around €50. In 2019, 428 new council homes were built within South Dublin County Council and 569 within Dublin City Council – excluding any provided through private landlords or leasing.
This year, 9,000 council homes are to be built nationwide, an extraordinary increase on only 600 built in 2015 before Rebuilding Ireland was launched by Fine Gael. Public housing waiting lists have fallen to 61,880 households in November 2020, a decrease of 29,720 or 32.4 per cent since 2016. In that period, about 22,000 council homes have been built – including direct builds by local authorities and approved housing bodies, extensive refurbishment of voids and Part V agreements. Local authorities are back in the business of providing public housing. – Yours, etc,
Cllr DAVID McMANUS,
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(Fine Gael),
South Dublin
County Council,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.
Sir, – Micheál Martin has stated in the Dáil that a ban on rent increases for a three-year period to help ease the plight of renters would be unconstitutional. It is hard to know which is more repugnant, a Constitution that prevents a Government from acting in the common good, or a Government that fails to ensure that such a Constitution is changed so that it can act, at all times, in the common good. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.