Social Protection and Environment (Housing)

IF I could add my voice to the number of people who have criticised Ministers Joan Burton and Alan Kelly and their respective departments of Social Protection and Environment  (Housing) in a report published last Friday which stated that there will be no rise in the caps on rent supplement paid to people in the private rental sector who are in receipt of social welfare.
The failure to raise the rent supplement caps will force people who are in receipt of rent supplement into homelessness.   How a Labour party as a junior partner in Government can stand over this measure is baffling, considering they see themselves as a party of the left.
Having taken a major drop in their vote in the local elections, it seems like a death wish going into the general election that is due within the next twelve months.
The Government could have introduced a number of measures to incentivise landlords into letting their properties to persons in receipt of rent supplement:
1. No income tax on rental income for such properties.
2. Waive the local property tax on these properties while the tenants are in receipt of rent supplement.
I would call on the three elected Labour party members for Co Wexford, Minister Howlin, and Councillors Ireton and Lawlor to use their influence to lobby the two Ministers Burton and Kelly, both Labour, to have another look at last Fridays report and take the necessary measures to ensure that the people on rent supplement are not drawn into sub standard accommodation and homelessness.
In the Gorey area at the moment, as a result of the austerity measures being pursued by the current Government, the average waiting time on the housing list is 7 years for a three bedroom house.  This is unlikely to improve unless there is immediate provision of social housing.
Ministers Kelly and Sullivan before him have both launched grand plans about housing into the future but to date the problem seems to be getting worse with people on housing lists that keep getting longer and despair setting in.

Thanks
Joe Sullivan

End the ongoing segregation of rural communities

Councillor James Browne has called for an end to the ongoing segregation of rural communities from urban centres and necessary vital services. He stated that the the recent announcement of bus route closures which will result in the loss of bus routes from Clonroche and Bunclody was just another in a deliberate process of isolation and segregation of our rural communities. Cllr Browne stated that many people depend on these bus services to get to work, to hospital appointments, to see their families and to access vital services that have been lost locally. He has called on the National Transport Authority, which is the governing body in Ireland for public transport in Ireland, to step in and prevent the closures. Councillor Browne will be part of a Fianna Fail delegation, being led by John Browne TD, that will meet with the NTA this Wednesday in an attempt to have the NTA prevent Bus Eireann from closing the routes.

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If I can be of any further assistance please don't hesitate to contact me on 086-8575387.

Yours Sincerely,
James A. Browne BL