Housing may have replaced unemployment as the burning political issue and no more so than in the State's fastest-growing city of Galway. That's why the Government's proposed commission on the private rented sector will be watched with particular interest by several of the city's new burghers.
Ald Catherine Connolly is one of them. Already dubbed "Michael D's heir apparent", a title she is a bit embarrassed by, the barrister, clinical psychologist and mother of two has known her own hardship. She is one of a family of 14 from Shantalla, and her mother died when she was nine and the youngest was just over one.
Nominated by the former arts minister and current Labour Galway West TD to stand for his own seat on the local authority, Ms Connolly was a reluctant runner. Her children are only three and 1 1/2 years old. Yet she bucked the trend on several counts a fortnight ago, at a time when her party fared badly nationwide.
Not only was she the first to be declared elected in Galway's West Ward, but the new candidate also became the first Labour woman on the corporation and the only barrister.
A Labour member "by instinct", Ms Connolly comes to Galway Corporation with vast experience and a firm belief that local government does not do its electorate justice. "There has to be an open and effective communications policy. Many people feel very alienated, and this was borne out in the Ombudsman's criticism of local authorities earlier this year," she said.
"People should know where they are on the housing list, they should know why repairs aren't being carried out when required, and the authority itself should be allowed to increase its maintenance staff if necessary. The staff are generally excellent, but they are often working without adequate back-up."
It was the housing issue, and criticism of planning, which were raised repeatedly on doorsteps during the canvass. "Galway Corporation listed its achievements in the local press before the local election, and I have no problem with that. But it should also have listed what still needed to be done and why it hadn't been carried out so far," she said.
"You take the Rahoon flats.
There was great pride in their demolition. But on one of the new estates provided, there is no access to public transport. There is no exit from the estate to passing buses, and so the residents have a walk of over half a mile."
She supports the findings of the Drudy report, carried out for the Labour Party's housing commission and published last April. Compiled by Prof P.J. Drudy of Trinity College Dublin, the 60page document takes issue with the "free market" approach to housing adopted by the Government in the wake of its own Bacon study on the crisis.
Among his 38 recommendations are the right to good-quality, affordable housing, which should be enshrined in the Constitution or in legislation, as is the case in other European countries; establishment of a national strategy for affordable housing, backed up by comprehensive inspection and monitoring and an independent audit committee; provision of a minimum of 20 per cent social housing in all residential development; the introduction of fair price certificates; compulsory purchase of land for affordable housing purposes; and provision of 10,000 social units annually to tackle current waiting lists.
Prof Drudy also recommended that universities and colleges be provided with capital grants to develop student accommodation (of particular relevance to Galway, where many students are being forced out of the city by exorbitant rents and insecurity of tenure); establishment of a quality control system for all housing for sale or rent, which would include a requirement on developers to finish off housing estates properly; introduction of a new licensing system for the private rented sector to replace the current registration system; introduction of legislation to provide for security of tenure; and a system of "rent certainty" which would prevent frequent and substantial increases.
Ms Connolly welcomes his refreshingly honest and direct approach, having heard him speak twice before the elections, latterly in Galway, when he called for radical action to prevent the crisis deepening.
He estimated that almost 140,000 people were in housing need, and pointed out that it was not unusual in Europe for governments to intervene in the marketplace.
Ms Connolly believes that integration must be a prerequisite of affordable housing.
In her view, there is severe deprivation in Galway in spite of its image as a thrusting young city. She witnessed it during her seven years as a clinical psychologist for the Western Health Board in Ballinasloe, when working in the Travellers' Training Centre in Oranmore and during her involvement with the Shantalla Youth Group, when a voluntary initiative provided a basketball court in the Sliding Rock. "That was 1970, and not one recreational facility has been provided for Shantalla since," she said."
She knows that her views will be in the minority on the corporation, as one of only two Labour members on a 15-member panel on which power is shared between Fianna Fail, with five seats, Fine Gael and the Progressive Democrats. Under a new Fianna FailPD pact, the mayor is a PD for the first time.
