Upcoming Events

National | Housing

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link J.K. Rowling Leads Backlash Against Sturgeon for Claiming There Was No Public Opposition to Gender S... Tue Dec 24, 2024 11:23 | Will Jones
J.K. Rowling has led a feminist backlash against?Nicola Sturgeon?after she was accused of ?rewriting history? over the gender self-ID law controversy by claiming there was no public opposition until "forces muscled in".
The post J.K. Rowling Leads Backlash Against Sturgeon for Claiming There Was No Public Opposition to Gender Self-ID Until “Forces Muscled In” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Science Shock: CO2 is Good for the Planet, Peer-Reviewed Studies Suggest Tue Dec 24, 2024 09:00 | Chris Morrison
Dramatic evidence has been published in a number of recent science papers that CO2 levels are already?'saturated', meaning little or no further warming is to be expected and rising CO2 levels are all beneficial.
The post Science Shock: CO2 is Good for the Planet, Peer-Reviewed Studies Suggest appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Whoever Rules Britain Is Going to Be Unpopular Tue Dec 24, 2024 07:00 | Noah Carl
It isn't so much that the Tories are getting more popular as that Labour is getting less so. Which illustrates a more general predicament for the Tories and any other party that might have aspirations to government.
The post Whoever Rules Britain Is Going to Be Unpopular appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Tue Dec 24, 2024 00:40 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Can Science Tell Us the Meaning of Life? Mon Dec 23, 2024 19:54 | Dr David Bell
At Christmas time, Dr David Bell reflects on what has true value in this world, the limits of science to tell us what that is and what a baby in a manger might have to say about it.
The post Can Science Tell Us the Meaning of Life? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

First Base Project or Cheap Publicity Stunt?

category national | housing | news report author Thursday September 25, 2014 22:28author by An Spréach Report this post to the editors

The idea that we can tackle Ireland’s increasing homeless crisis by packing people into tightly fitted shipping containers is unfathomable, ill-conceived and an insult to injury to the countless number of homeless people in need of decent, adequate housing.
slum.jpeg

Although we would like to think we all have moved away from the days of the slum; spare a thought though for the beleaguered people of Moyross in Limerick and the other copious amount of disadvantaged and neglected communities around the country. Some spark in all his infinite wisdom has had the bright idea to resurrect a dark period in history characterised by substandard housing and squalor, and seeing fit to house people once again within these sordid conditions.

The notion of housing some of the most marginalised people in society into tightly packed shipping containers, no matter how pretty and fanciful on the inside these shipping containers may be, should never have been giving the light of day. This poor planning, if it can even be called that, illustrates just how far behind we are at the moment at bringing the housing crisis to an end, once and for all.

Are we really willing to spend an exuberant amount of taxpayers’ money shoving people like herd animals into tiny containers? Why does the ordinary Joe Soap have to suffer, again? Let’s not forget who created this crisis in the first place, why not bundle these people in there instead, and give proper homes to those in need?

Who in their right mind thought it acceptable to house people in this way in the first place? What kind of way is this to treat an already segregated and neglected section of society? Is this all the citizens of this country are worth—shipping containers?

The brain behind the operation
Martin Critten, a native English man living in Ireland these past ten years, and no stranger to publicity stunts himself, relatively recently walked from Limerick to Dublin in the hope of raising awareness for his fledgling political party, the National Independent Party. He is also the founder of First Base, the franchise pushing ahead with the idea of slum housing for many of Ireland’s citizens, and who according to Critten, if the containers are good enough for the military, then they must be good enough for the homeless.

Crittens’ reaction to the charges of ‘slum tenancy’ levelled against him and his campaign would be laughable if not so serious. In a carefully crafted statement on his website, First Base, Critten proclaims, beggars can’t be choosers. Reading it one will also find a sophistry of highly misleading arguments covered in all the trademarks of a well-adapted wannabe career politician, playing to the emotions like any ambitious demagogue would. It seems to be nothing more than a cheap publicity stunt aimed at garnisheeing some credibility for Crittens political career; in one word—opportunism.

While pushing his idea around, Critten may have found an unlikely ally in the most unlikely of places; within the self-proclaimed harbourers of social justice, and majority seat holders in Dublin City Council, Sinn Fein. Together with Critten and the NIP, members of SF have begun leaning toward the idea of the production of slums in a move that will set them on par course, riding roughshod over the backs of the homeless population in Ireland, to essentially what they see as an easy, albeit, temporary fix to a colossal problem; akin to sticking a plaster over a giant gaping wound.

If Sinn Fein remains intransigent with this preposterous idea, further substantive reparations down the line for the already downtrodden and persecuted citizens, may be forthcoming.

The ‘prefabs’ are only meant to be temporary, however, this will come as no consolation to the scores of homeless families being forced to live in temporary accommodation in hotels, some of which have already spent over 8 years or more of their lives living there in cramped and substandard conditions.

Moving people to and fro from one temporary accommodation to another is counterintuitive . . . but there is another way—make social housing a top priority. Simply build more homes, take back the vacant ones, and open up and redecorate the ones that have been left lying idle.

Currently, there are around 76 empty homes for every 1 homeless person in Ireland.

The citizens of this country deserve nothing but the best, let’s not sell them short, let’s give them exactly what they deserve—decent, adequate housing!

- An Spréach Spokesperson,
Tony N.

Related Link: http://anspreach.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/first-base-project-or-publicity-stunt/

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   is there a pattern here?     fred    Fri Sep 26, 2014 16:46 
   perhaps Irish politicians have been reading this     fred    Fri Sep 26, 2014 18:11 
   Housing rights for all, including asylum seekers.     Ingdo    Tue Oct 07, 2014 22:02 
   sectarian nonsense     fred    Wed Oct 08, 2014 02:09 


 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy