INTL ‘House the Irish First’ – Protesters Block Housebuilding for ‘Non-national Families’

thompson

Certa Bonum Certamen

‘House the Irish First’ – Protesters Block Housebuilding for ‘Non-national Families’

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Jack Montgomery
17 Feb 2020

Desperate Irish protesters whose families have been waiting up to 15 years for social housing have blocked the construction of new homes for “non-national families”, demanding “local houses for local people”.

“We watch these houses being built, and none of our children on the list are getting them,” one middle-aged woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Irish Times.

“They can be 10, 12 years on the list, and they’re going nowhere. There’s no explanation as to why,” she complained.

The ‘House the Irish First’ protest movement, most of whose members are women, has been blocking the housebuilding project at Ladyswell Road in the predominantly working-class Dublin suburb of Mulhuddart since January.

The protesters, who believe too much social housing is going to “non-national families who are not from the area”, are demanding at half of the new homes are set aside for local people on the housing list for the local authority, Fingal County Council.

View: https://twitter.com/BreitbartLondon/status/1141654424575598592


“We have heard there are two lists,” another protester told The Irish Times.

“We don’t know how it works. What we do know is the list for the girls from around here has not dropped, and non-national families are moving in. We are tired of seeing the girls move out of the area, away from their family supports. Our communities are being broken,” she said.

One of the young women concerned said she had been on the list for seven-and-a-half years already, living cheek by jowl with her sister’s family in a home afflicted by damp, and is still only number 860 out of 6,959 applicants.

Interrogated on the question of whether or not the name ‘House the Irish First’ was racist, one of the women said their group had “nothing to do with racism” but that the housing situation “stokes racism… it makes you bitter…. we haven’t a problem with anyone who needs a house, but it has to be done fairly”.

Fingal County Council insisted it has “long-established policies which are the fairest way possible of allocating housing to those on the list”, based on “meeting the housing needs of the community which includes the elderly, the disabled, the homeless, the Traveller community and also a growing migrant population.”

Mulhuddart’s demographics have transformed dramatically in recent years, with 40 per cent of residents having been born abroad.

View: https://twitter.com/BreitbartLondon/status/1132587237613477893
 

Dobbin

Faithful Steed
Mulhuddart’s demographics have transformed dramatically in recent years, with 40 per cent of residents having been born abroad.

"Camp of the Saints" by Raspail comes to mind.

Rarely seen on the Internet. To save turning pages I found ONE site which offered the audiobook online. Audible offers it but you have to buy into a trial. Youtube routinely removes it shortly after being offered apparently.


And all the online descriptions of the book online give it a "thumbs up" for racism - which now having heard it I disagree - Raspail allows his mind and words to reveal a possible scenario, a logical conclusion, and the not so nice ending. Which has less to do with studied racism and more to do with conflict of human spirits - which is not racism but competition.

Dobbin
 

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
Alright...WTH is "social housing"? Are we talking the U.S. equivalent of "public housing" or welfare housing?

Maybe get the heck off welfare/dole..whatever...and pay for a decent place yerself. It's a pretty universal rule that "Beggers can't be choosers". Sure...the underclasses (foreign or domestic) are gonna fight over scraps. Strive to not be one.
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
WalknTrot - yes social housing is public housing, but I don't think you understand some of the problems here in Ireland.

Many rural areas have NO public transportation and pretty much NO jobs unless you inherit a farm, business or have a car to work part-time at Lidles.

The City areas have jobs but the rents and prices are so high that even multinational corporations are starting to look elsewhere to put their employees.

Traditionally, since people were turfed out to die during the Great Potato Famine, having a roof of some sort over one's head was considered a human right here and the government/taxpayer the fallback building of houses.

Most people that live in "council" housing have jobs (or many families do) it is simply that 40 to 60 hours a week won't pay the rent for most Dublin apartments.

Another problem has been the housing that was built or taken over during the economic crash was taken over by "Vulture" banking funds and in some cases simply sits there.

Finally, the government has realized they bought into a looming disaster when they followed "EU" directives to move people towards renting "like good little Europeans" instead of traditional homeownership by those who could afford it.

They just woke up to realize their entire pension system is going to be a mess and they are likely to have thousands of elderly people they will HAVE to build housing for or have them live under bridges because the Old Age pensions were based on homeownership and don't even come close to paying the astronomical rents that have Dublin nearly as high as San Francisco when it comes to rental costs.

I mean the disconnect between what people get in retirement and what it would cost to rent is so high it would be comical if it wasn't so worrying.

I'm guessing at my figures here but something like 1,000 to 1200 a month to live on (no food stamps) with rents being 1800 to 2400 a month, for an apartment with one or two bedrooms. The studios are about 1600...

I am expecting businesses to start building housing but they tend towards dormitory-style stuff that doesn't suit a family.

Anyway, all politics is local and the situation in Ireland is not the same as that of the US, at least not exactly.
 

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
WalknTrot - yes social housing is public housing, but I don't think you understand some of the problems here in Ireland.
I knew this was coming, and I knew I had it coming, ;) but for some reason, this story really curdled my gut this morning. The lack of personal dignity, personal initiative, self-realization and instead....fighting over scraps from the gov't. Good grief peeps...step back and take a look at yourself. Use that competitive drive (?) to improve your own financial situation, not to beat out somebody else for more/better free (or gov't subsidized) -stuff.
 
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Melodi

Disaster Cat
Well, people here in the countryside do still keep gardens (most older council houses had space for them) chickens and do under-the-table work - of course, if they get caught, just like in the US, they lose their benefits. Even though the "gigs" don't usually do more than putting a bit of extra food on the table, it isn't a full income.

As a culture, in general, "competitive drive" is seen as being "too forward" and will probably go against you in a job interview here as some of my American friends have discovered to their shock.

That isn't a good thing, but it is a thing, but the real issue right now in Ireland is that the only places with semi-affordable housing are in places that have basically ZERO employment (in terms of employment that will actually pay your bills and is legal) vs places like Dublin that have all sorts of work but where it is common for investigations to find 30 or 40 people (usually from Eastern Europe) time-sharing bunks in what are supposed to be suburban houses.

People in Public housing here that have jobs, do pay rent; it is just that the rent is proportional to their salaries, the past two governments have tried letting the "private" (aka bankster) sector build housing and the results have been dismal.

Lots of hotels, high end-student dorms and "worker's dorms" but very little, almost nothing that families with kids can even think about affording. Even with two incomes, the banks will laugh at them if they try for a mortgage.

A good part of what happened in the last election was because the Irish don't really like seeing six-year-olds eating pizza off the sidewalk (homeless) or Mothers with six kids sleeping in the police station (legally here the cops have to let you spend the night if you are stranded, it used to only happen rarely now it happens so often the police are screaming for better solutions too).

Ireland is a small country, the problems and the solutions are likely to be different than what they would be in the US or another really large country.
 

Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane
Another problem has been the housing that was built or taken over during the economic crash was taken over by "Vulture" banking funds and in some cases simply sits there.

Finally, the government has realized they bought into a looming disaster when they followed "EU" directives to move people towards renting "like good little Europeans" instead of traditional homeownership by those who could afford it.

They just woke up to realize their entire pension system is going to be a mess and they are likely to have thousands of elderly people they will HAVE to build housing for or have them live under bridges because the Old Age pensions were based on homeownership and don't even come close to paying the astronomical rents that have Dublin nearly as high as San Francisco when it comes to rental costs.


All by design. This will be huge problem not just in Ireland.
 
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