Connacht Tribune
Documentary highlights scale of housing crisis
Cures for the country’s housing crux have proved worse than the disease, according to a property expert, who described the shortage of homes in Galway as “shocking”.
“The reality is that in Galway, it is horrendous. It’s exactly the same as Dublin in terms of lack of supply. If you go onto Daft.ie now, you’d probably find 20 two-beds in the city. Like, 20, do you know what I mean? A few years ago there would probably be over a thousand,” said Edel O’Brien, series producer on Find me a Home on RTÉ One television.
Ms O’Brien, who filmed in Galway this summer for programme three of the third series, said the “unintended consequences” of Government interventions have made matters worse. Introducing regulations that effectively banned bedsits has increased homelessness, for example.
“You have to have a separate bathroom and separate cooking facility, which means there is no longer a rung on the ladder called a bedsit. And so it’s very, very difficult for the people who are vulnerable, who are either low waged or students, to find accommodation, which is why there are huge problems in Galway.
“Government bring in ideas and legislation to protect tenants. That was the aim. They didn’t envisage that this would happen. A whole layer of bedsits that would have been a safety net is gone. Where’s the safety net now?”
Tenants who would previously be allocated social housing, are now getting Rent Allowance or HAP (Housing Assistance Payments) to find homes in the private rental sector. This is “feeding the demand” for private rentals and “incrementally pushing up rents”.
Meanwhile, the rent caps, which limit rent rises to 4% per year in urban areas including Galway City, are also having adverse unintended consequences, she said.
“Most people out there in rent-controlled tenancies aren’t going to move, they’re going to stay put because they know that if they go up the road to a new place, it might not be bigger, it might not be better but it will be dearer. The only places that come onto Daft.ie are the places that are new, so they can charge whatever they want. People don’t understand how landlords could be leaving the market when rents are so high – it’s a goldmine, they should be raking it in.
“They don’t understand that they’re rent-capped and they’re probably selling-off because they can’t profit from current rental market values. They have what’s called historic rents. It’s not that rent controls are bad. A huge amount of tenancies are protected. But what it has done is stalled the rental market and the new supply coming in.
“Nobody is going to say ‘poor landlords’. It just doesn’t sound right. But they’re feeling a bit hard done by. And we need landlords because we don’t really have a rental sector other than the private rental sector. The rental sector that isn’t private is social housing and there isn’t enough of that,” said Ms O’Brien.
This lack of supply has led to a bear-pit competitive nature of the rental market in Galway, which is laid-bare in episode three of Find me a Home.
With rent-capped landlords exiting the market, leases are being terminated and families face eviction.
In this programme, by Waddell Media, Galway housemates for three years, Robert Landiss, Stewart Killeen and Céclie Robin, have been told that their landlord is selling an entire terrace of houses in the city including theirs.
They receive notice to quit, and are filmed searching for a new place to live.“There’s nothing out there. There just physically aren’t enough houses. People are competing big time. I won’t even say house, apartment or room, the reality is people are evening competing for the bed in the room with somebody else. That’s the competition, there physically are not enough houses,” said Robert Landiss, who described the quality of what is on the market as “shocking”.
The trio eventually did find a property but there’s a sting in the tail since the programme was filmed. They are soon going to lose their new house because their landlord has decided to sell that, too.
Speaking to the Connacht Tribune, Stewart Killeen said: “We haven’t been served notice yet. When the possible sale goes through, we’ll get 28 days’ notice then. We moved-in in June. It’s a nightmare having to leave again. It’s daunting. You definitely feel anger. It’s annoyingly ironic that the property class have so much sway in the country. It seems to be just a chronic situation. Our rent has risen in this place, and I know the prospect is that my rent is likely to go up again, which adds an extra dimension. It’s daunting and it’s dreadful but I am optimistic that we will find a place.”
- The programme is available on the RTÉ Player for three weeks.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
