Aontú representative slams Government's asylum seeker housing plan, warns of social disarray

The Irish Government has been accused of seriously risking social cohesion and integration with its latest drive to solve the asylum seekers crisis by an Aontú representative in Cork North West.

Becky Kealy who is a candidate in the Kanturk-Charleville Local Electoral Area (LEA) has described their latest plans to buy or rent empty properties from landlords for housing asylum seekers as grossly irresponsible. Ms Kealy said the plan is a threat to integration and cohesion. “The government is seeking to pitch asylum seekers against the local population on the limited space in the private rental housing market. It will fuel disaffection in society. It is a shameless dereliction of duty by a government that is so weak. It is frightening,” she said.

“This government is doing all it can to distract from its own incredible ineptitude,” said Ms Kealy. “I am listening to the people on the doors in Kanturk and they are increasingly angry at this mess. This plan is seriously ill advised. It’s another example of a government not listening to the people. The government is trying to use every trick in the book to deflect from its lack of ability to even attempt to manage this correctly.”

Ms Kealy continued: “There are barely any private rental properties available in Kanturk and other parts of the county. 68% of young adults are currently living with their parents, this is up from 32% in 2011. The lack of social housing, and the lack of private rentals, is causing huge problems, not least the rent inflation we’re currently seeing in parts of Cork. We know that prices in rural areas are climbing quicker than anywhere else. If the government begin to occupy private rentals, then things will get much worse.”

Ms Kealy said the State is the biggest ‘hoarder’ of empty houses nationwide. “We know the 37 properties which they purchased specifically for the accommodation of refugees and asylum seekers are still empty. There are 3,500 empty local authority homes. It takes eight months to turn around a local authority home as opposed to three weeks to turn around a private home for re-rent. The HSE are sitting on 400 empty buildings throughout the country. “The Office of Public Works (OPW) has admitted that it is sitting on 65 surplus properties currently listed as vacant. 18 of these are OPW residential homes. Some of these buildings are empty for nearly 50 years. The state is paying €250,000 a year on security for empty buildings in its possession. The State is the biggest hoarder of empty homes in the country. This government is completely incompetent when it comes to housing and accommodation,” she added.

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