If you can post up the article in full I can then confirm if itâs too nuanced me.
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Itâs a free link bro - we canât ladybird everything for you
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Youâve to sign upâŚyou hardly expect me to hand over my details to the main government/British mouthpiece in Ireland?
Youâve a kid right?
facts in the indo 
Sure youâve already handed over your details to @Rocko. The Indo are in the ha-penny place compared to the sophisticated data-trawling operation being run here
Demanding an answer to the question âJust how bad a Housing Minister is Eoghan Murphyâ is only half a question.
There is no right answer to a wrong question and there is no greater falsehood than a half-truth - hence the oath in court demanding that the witness tells âthe truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truthâ.
âDemocracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time,â quoted Winston Churchill in 1947, as post-war Britain faced into a period of unprecedented uncertainty that saw the rise of populist innovations, such as the disastrous nationalisations of the coal, steel and gas industries as well as the railways.
Similarly, any minister of a department who oversees any upsetting aspect of life can be equally criticised as the worst ever minister for âallowingâ road traffic accidents, suicides, cancer deaths, or homelessness.
Populist denunciations of wrongdoing by authority figures has become a new blood sport, yet such attacks can be confounded by asking the accuser the simple question: âCompared to what?â How bad compared to the past? How bad compared to other countries? How bad compared to previous ministers?
For example, the counts of rough sleepers in Dublin have varied little over the last 12 years, through boom and bust. There was a minimum of 59 and a maximum 184 - the current figure is 92. This has happened on the watch of five separate ministers, drawn from Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Labour and the Green Party. Life - with all its tragedies - marches heedlessly onwards, no matter who is in power.
Attempts have been made to close this form of analytical dialogue by outrage. Critics denounce comparisons as attempts to diminish the crisis by ânormalisingâ or âcontextualisingâ it or by claiming that it is âvictim shamingâ, or that the minutiae of comparative data are out of date or irrelevant.
The list of methods used to try to shake off the troublesome question, âcompared to what?â, is long. Perhaps the vigour of the attempts to stifle this type of analysis should be taken as a compliment to its appropriateness and effectiveness.
When formulating public policy, the truth must be told by using facts and not by making emotional appeals. âDuring times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary actâ has become the slogan for those who point out that truth is the new hate speech, where facts are not always welcome.
The facts are that, in terms of comparisons on the broad canvas of housing, Ireland now fares well in the context of Europe; having the fourth lowest level of overcrowding; the fifth lowest housing overburden rate and Europeâs lowest levels of severe housing deprivation and households with children facing overcrowding.
Indeed, in every one of the 11 factors examined in the indicators of European Homelessness 2019 report, Ireland is better than the EU average in every one, except in the fundamental issue of arrears - as well as the prevalence of lone women with dependent children among households experiencing damp housing. These are facts.
Those confronted with using alarmism to further their cause often counter by saying âAh, whatâs the harm of a bit of exaggeration, if it shocks people into giving money. Sure, itâs a worthy causeâ. The harm of exaggeration and alarmism is that it can cause the misdirection of scarce resources into photogenic âmisery pornâ projects - as Patsy McGarry courageously called out in last weekâs Irish Times.
In the case of housing, charities and activist journalism all try to vigorously make the case that homelessness must be the national priority - which is a misdirection. Homelessness is a result of lack of affordability, not lack of housing. This critique has often been derided, but this reality has been confirmed since the recovery of housing supply, which has done little to change the number of homeless.
In fact, housing supply appears to be surging - as evidenced by more than 20pc increases in new homes built; commenced or permitted in 2018 - a remarkable achievement.
This has taken the heat out of price increases which have slowed to only 1.1pc in September 2019, approaching the typical inflation rate of the rest of the economy.
Meanwhile the real issues, like mortgage arrears, go neglected. Currently between 28,000-30,000 such family homes have been in arrears for more than two years. The Central Bankâs latest figures up to the last quarter of last year says there are 19,000 who have been unable to meet any commitments for over five years. This figure masks more complex realities - with poorer households having significantly less [and falling] arrears compared to the general population in which nearly 8pc have such problems - over twice the EU average.
This is real trouble on a very large scale, but there are solutions - though you wouldnât know about it to read the media; nor would you know that solutions such as Mortgage-to-Rent exist - which keeps financially distressed families in their homes. This approach may have the capacity to keep up to 8-9,000 households in their houses. This approach surely needs even more attention.
This brings us to answering the âCompared to what?â question. Even allowing for the complexity of international comparisons, it is sobering to contemplate the scale of housing and homelessness issues around the world compared to Ireland.
We have around 10,000 people who are classified as âhomelessâ. By comparison in Scotland in 2018-19, 36,465 homeless applications were made, of whom 29,894 were assessed as homeless by their local authority - an increase of 3pc, or 892 applications, compared to the previous year.
Homelessness is a very different thing from rough sleeping - the subject of most posters that seek funding for homelessness. The Dublin region has 92 people who were recorded as rough sleeping this year compared to 152 in 2018. Brussels has 150 rough sleepers; in 2015 Lisbon had 431. It is sobering to consider the comparable figures for larger cities such as London which has 8,855; Paris 2,232; Los Angeles 44,000; Seattle 12,112; San Francisco 9,700; New York City 3,588, and San Diego 8,576. Homelessness is a part of the reality of capital cities and large cities all over the world.
There is one final comparison that must be borne in mind. Dealing with homelessness must be compared with the effect on those who are not homeless. Ministers for housing must juggle the maddening complexity of the consequences of their successes. The housing market recovers - people are relieved to at last be freed from the shackles of negative equity - yet in the same breath they curse the rising prices because their children are locked out of the market by the rising price of new homes. No winning for a minister there.
More troublingly, the improvement in the provision of more than 8,000 new high-quality social houses has the potential to badly bruise those working hard to enter the private housing market. These who struggle to save have the potential to feel inequitably treated compared to those in receipt of social housing. No winning for a minister there either.
Yes, this is the worst minister - except for all those others that have been tried from time to time, in any place, all over the world.
He must have got Eoghan Murphy in the FG Kris kindle. These FGers really have the Winston Churchill qoutes down.
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âBritain faced into a period of unprecedented uncertainty that saw the rise of populist innovations, such as the disastrous nationalisations of the coal, steel and gas industries as well as the railways.â
Copied from the article without comment.
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Itâs great to have Europe, or indeed the world, as a yard stick - but what the fuck does that matter to anyone in Ireland facing these issues? â Look, I know youâre in a bit of a pickle but it could be worse you could live in Hungry or Tunisia. Do we not take action here because we are doing an above average job compared to every where else? How about aiming to be no.1 and Having Hans and Greta be envious of us for a change?
Arrears â not doing so well here⌠The less well off are falling further and further behind it seems?. Not the sole problem of the housing minister here - but a national / government issue and one that ties into the housing crisis - a good chunk of the population are just about keeping their heads above water - wages do not meet the cost of living and many highly paid jobs are being taken by foreigners happy to pay higher rents ⌠and on the circle goes - Hans and Greta are driving Paddy and Mary into the ground here it seems ⌠and tell me this, all these new jobs we are pushing for and creating - where do they think people are going to live
Homelessness - Agreed about the lack of affordability being the main issue as i said above - and that has always been my main gripe cc @tallback - not homelessness per se⌠the real crisis is a whole generation being priced out of their own country and having to put their life on hold for years which affects their parents and wider family also.
Building - the author says itâs thriving?? Where tho? and is it meeting demand nationally? - the first time buyers thingy is a great incentive but itâs only applicable to new homes if im correct? If you have a high demand, the deposit is remaining at 10% and the help is only restricted to new homes, which are slowly being built, why cant it be extended to existing properties? - Iâm not up to speed on regulation here and you might need to learn me, but surely this would release some pressure and itâs surely around this area where the minister could be doing more?
Again, the closing point has nothing to do with anything â if the tans jumped off a bridge would you jump off it also?
Isnât he the chap who got himself into bother talking about homelessness before?
Except for people pretend as if issues only face Ireland or that we have an especially low caliber of politicans relative to everywhere else.
Yeah, a year or two ago. Canât remember what he said that time. Wasnât he employed in some homelessness related role or other too?
Yes. He was head of the Housing Agency.
Heâs correct on homelessness.
Ireland is high cost though for renting, that is undeniable.
We have on the one hand though several charities who are looking for more money, to increase services. We also have a left wing coalition who want another go at large social housing estates.
Can you learn me a bit about the merits of the first time buyers thingy for new builds only?
He said some people were gaming the system iirc. You canât say things like that.
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I donât think anyone has ever gamed the system in fairness
Yeah that would never happen.
But surely the valid comparison is with Ireland of a mere three decades ago and Ireland of today? Ireland was one of the poorest, if not the poorest, country in western Europe with high unemployment and hundreds of thousands emigrating. Ireland now has the lowest unemployment in western Europe and one of the highest standard of living.
Listening to some in the media and some of the commentary on here you would think Ireland was in worse shape than it ever was. This is such obvious bullshit, the focus should be on what policies led Ireland from being an economic wasteland to enjoying one of the highest growth rates in Europe, and what policies need to be pursued to maintain economic growth.
I would imagine people whoâs mortgages are in arrears are more likely to be mid income than less well off. Buying a home and taking on a mortgage is a huge undertaking that shoudnât be taken lightly. One of the primary reasons for the last crash was the narrative that everyone should own a home and banks dropping lending guidelines in the crazy notion that house prices could only go up.
The biggest issue in countries like Ireland, the UK and the US is the concentration of modern businesses in the large urban centers with the associated opportunites, high costs and wealth, and the neglect of provencial cities and towns. Unless you are employed in a high demand high paying job people canât afford to live in central Dublin, London or San Francisco/Silicon Valley and end up commuting hours a day.
Investment in lower income housing in communter towns outside major cities and public transport is the obvious answer but it all takes time and funds are not unlimited.
The alternative that the left argue is tax the fuck out of corporations and mid to high earners which will result in driving both groups out of Ireland and turning Ireland into Greece.
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Ireland of the 50s - 70s built houses by the wagon load when people needed them. ⌠twice during those decades there was a big building drive⌠people were looked at as people and not figures/ stats back then tho.