The housing crisis has long been the biggest issue in Irish politics and recent days have seen it dominate the agenda once more on a number of fronts.
The main development is the Government’s big swing to try to reform the rental market with measures that may see things get worse for many tenants before they get better.
Rent controls are to be brought in nationwide, with restrictions setting when prices can be raised to market rates and new six-year leases the Government says offer new security of tenure to tenants.
The Opposition says most tenancies do not last six years and when renters leave a property of their own accord the landlord will have an opportunity to hike the rent — something that will see prices continue to spiral.
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The Coalition hopes the reforms, combined with other measures like changes to size guidelines for new apartments and lower VAT, will lead to greater supply of rental accommodation and ultimately lower rents, but that could be years away.
As Sarah Burns reported, the legislation to bring about the significant changes to the rental market was passed in the Dáil on Wednesday night.
Her story about the Opposition’s derision of the plan, and the Government’s response, can be found here.
Earlier in the week Harry McGee detailed how senior civil servant Garret Doocey has been appointed as the new “housing tsar” by the Government. His official title will be head of the Housing Activation Office (HAO). This office brings together officials from the Department of Housing, Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks, transport agencies and local government. It is tasked with unblocking housing sites and accelerating delivery. Doocey will be busy so.
Meanwhile, as Ellen Coyne reported on Tuesday, new restrictions on short-term lets will only apply to towns and cities with populations of more than 20,000 people, as the Government abandons a former plan to cap such lets in areas with populations of more than 10,000. Minister for Tourism Peter Burke denied the change in policy was a response to pressure from Kerry-based Ministers Norma Foley and Michael Healy-Rae, who opposed the previous plan amid concern over how it would have affected people running short-term rentals in tourist towns like Killarney. Coyne has a good analysis here headlined: U-turn on regulating short-term lets: striking a balance or a sop to Michael Healy-Rae?
The hope within Government is that the crackdown on the short-term let sector will lead to many homes being brought back into long-term residential use, though the numbers are unclear, as we report today.
Sinn Féin MEPs oppose €90bn loan to Ukraine
Sinn Féin came in for criticism last month when it voted against Ireland’s participation in a €90 billion European Union loan to war-torn Ukraine. The loan is to provide funding for Ukraine for 2026 and 2027 as it continues to resist the Russian invasion. Of that, €30 billion is for general financial support and €60 billion is for military equipment. The party’s finance spokesman, Pearse Doherty, argued at the time that while “families in Ireland are crippled by the cost-of-living crisis” the Government was “proposing that billions of euro are given to Ukraine for weapons of war”. Doherty said he would “rather see that money being invested in public services and cost-of-living supports” across the EU. He also said “neutrality was being hollowed out”.
There was fresh criticism from Fianna Fáil when Sinn Féin’s two MEPs were poised to vote against the measure in the European Parliament on Wednesday. The European Parliament subsequently voted overwhelmingly to back the loan.
Our reports on the matter can be found here and here.
Irish man detained by Ice
On Monday it was revealed that Irishman Seamus Culleton, who has been living in the United States, has been held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials since being arrested last September. In a phone interview from the facility, he said conditions there are “like a concentration camp, absolute hell”.
There have been appeals for Taoiseach Micheál Martin to raise Culleton’s case with US president Donald Trump at their meeting in the White House next month, and it has emerged that several Irish citizens have sought official help after being arrested and detained by Ice.
On Wednesday The Irish Times reported that Culleton overstayed a US 90-day visitor’s visa issued in 2009. Culleton, who is married to a US citizen, has a work permit and was applying for a marriage-based green card. In another story on Thursday, Colm Keena outlined how Culleton was facing drug charges in Ireland at the time he moved to the US.
Other stories of note
There was a significant moment when Taoiseach Micheál Martin named the former British agent Stakeknife as Freddie Scappaticci in the Dáil. Sarah Burns reported that Martin spoke about how Scappaticci was recruited by the British army and was a “prized informant” between the late 1970s and 1990s. Martin also said: “Throughout this time, Stakeknife was implicated in what were by any measure, grotesque and serious crimes committed for and with the Provisional IRA, and this included 14 murders and the abductions of 15 individuals.” The British government have not confirmed Stakeknife’s identity amid a “neither confirm nor deny” policy related to its agents. In his analysis Mark Hennessy wrote: “The dogs in the street, and not just those in west Belfast, know that senior IRA figure Freddie Scappaticci was agent Stakeknife." He argues that Martin’s naming of Stakeknife puts pressure on the British government to do the same.
Jack Horgan-Jones and Martin Wall reported that the search for a new Department of Health chief has begun with incumbent Robert Watt’s term set to expire in April. They reveal how the next secretary general will have a lower salary than Watt.
On Wednesday’s Inside Politics podcast, host Hugh Linehan and Political Editor Pat Leahy were joined by academics Gail McElroy and Theresa Reidy to discuss the latest edition of the How Ireland Voted book and explore a shift to the left in Irish politics and why that has happened.
