Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing Dessie Ellis TD slammed plans to apply the new family home tax to local authority and voluntary housing which could see higher rents for struggling tenants.
Deputy Ellis continued:
“The plan to apply this unfair tax on houses in the social housing system makes no sense and is completely counterproductive.
“Social housing was cut in the budget as were supports which many tenants rely on. It has been a terrible budget for the poorest in our society and now many will face a rent increase with no return.
“Local authorities who were meant to gain from the tax will have to pay around €25 million. This makes no sense and will weaken local authorities and voluntary housing bodies and hurt their tenants.
“This is an unfair tax plan to begin with but it is an outrage that the government have not exempted social housing.
“Sinn Féin proposed a progressive wealth tax which would have avoided this problem. We will continue to fight the home tax for a genuine tax on wealth”
Rent increase with no return: Ellis
Lack of regulation caused Pyrite contamination– Ellis
Sinn Fein spokesperson Dessie Ellis TD has called on the government to fast track the reform of building regulations and put in place a clear scheme to pay for repairs which will be needed to Pyrite affected homes into the future. He was speaking as part of a Dáil debate on the Report of the Pyrite Panel.
“There remains no mandatory testing of quarries for heave potential. We needed no report to tell us that quarries should be testing for a substance which could cause a house’s foundations to expand and the damage that would to do to the entire structure.
“We have houses tearing apart from the inside because of these very simple, but unforgiveable, failures to regulate. At no point on the chain of supply were any sufficient checks made to see if the material being used for the foundations of these houses was suitable.
“At no point did any regulation require those in the quarry, the concrete suppliers or the construction company doing the work, to ascertain the quality of their materials and that substances like pyrite were not present.
“It cannot be stated any more clearly: the state failed these families utterly and so far it has continued to fail them. We need legislative reform of inspections and building standards which will make these kinds of scandals much more rare and easily resolved.
“I support the demands of the families for immediate work to be carried out and paid for by the state. When the state puts in place its scheme to recoup this money should not be the concern for the people living in houses which need serious repairs, having bought the home in good faith”