Micheál Martin has attacked local authorities for “inertia” and “lack of proactivity” on housing and said the Government would intervene to stop them dezoning land for homes.
The Taoiseach said he was “shocked” at weekend reports that Wicklow County Council intended to dezone land for housing and he promised the “Government will intervene” to prevent this.
“Government is not happy that chief executive officers of county councils the length and breadth of the country seem to be displaying a degree of inertia and lack of proactivity in terms of rezoning land, never mind dezoning land,” he said.
“We have a housing crisis in this country. We’re hearing reports ... that they’re not going to rezone their land at all.
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“There’s lots of young people out there are paying excessive prices for housing.
“We have published the national planning framework. The minister has instructed local authorities to rezone land, and rezoning doesn’t have to depend on the availability of infrastructure, services. That can come afterwards, if necessary.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday at the opening of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party’s autumn think-in in Cork, he said he had contacted local authorities about the problem.
“We’re finding that many councils are dragging their feet on this. And I’ve spoken to a number of CEOs and I’ve told them that if they’re not going to do it, Government will do it directly,” he said.
“We are running out of patience, and I will be meeting with the Minister for Housing, with key executives of local authorities to really drive this message home.
“They need to really to respond to Government, the democratically elected Government’s decision in respect of rezoning”.
He was confronted outside the venue for the meeting by Cobh woman Antoinette Burke, who campaigns for her daughter Katie Byrne. Katie lives with conditions including cerebral palsy and is seeking surgery, which has not been provided in Ireland.
Ms Burke was seeking the Taoiseach’s intervention in securing surgery for her daughter, which she said surgeons in Ireland would not provide.
Her case has been raised in the Dáil previously by Cork East Sinn Féin TD Pat Buckley, whom Ms Burke praised as the “only one who cares”.
Asked about the case later by reporters, Mr Martin said he had read the note supplied by Ms Burke and it seemed there has been “a lot of interaction with very, very senior consultants in this field in paediatric surgery, particularly orthopaedic paediatric surgery, who apparently from that note are saying that they didn’t believe that surgery was the right course of action and they either refused or took a decision not to do it on clinical grounds. But I would have to explore that further with the consultants concerned.
“It’s a very, very difficult case for a mother and obviously the struggle and the journey for that family has been a long one from the day Katie was born, and born prematurely.
“So it is a very, very difficult and painful journey for families, and families and mothers want the best for their child. I understand that fully, and mothers and fathers would do anything for their child.
“And that means at times very difficult engagements with consultants and clinicians. And I think the clinicians make their best judgments and in respect of the timing of surgery.
“I come across this in many cases where people are anxious to get to surgery, the clinicians are saying, ‘Not yet’ or ‘We don’t believe it’s clinically justified’. On the other hand, if surgeons believe that they can’t do it here there is a treatment abroad scheme there.”
Mr Martin declined to comment on the withdrawal of mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor from the presidential race, but he said: “I had a good canvas this morning with [Fianna Fáil candidate] Jim Gavin in Cork and Douglas. We had a very good response. Many people particularly from the military community and so on appreciating, you know, his role in peacekeeping and, of course, a lot of banter about the place in terms of the state of Cork football versus Dublin football and a few Kerry people as well.
“So my message to Kerry people and people who would be concerned about that, that the safest thing to do is to elect Jim Gavin as president, so he won’t come back to haunt you.”
Mr Martin promised there would be “targeted” measures aimed at low-income families in next month’s budget to help with the rising cost of living, though again he ruled out a package of giveaways similar to recent budgets.
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers later warned that any tax reductions in the budget would be significantly smaller than those seen in recent years.
Speaking at the Fianna Fáil think-in, Mr Chambers said that in the absence of big giveaways, the Government would seek to “target better this year’s budget than we did in previous years”.
“And that’s because we’re up we’re trying to moderate current expenditure. But we still have areas we want to improve,” he said, adding that “we want to stick within tighter fiscal parameters for next year than we have in previous years”.
Asked about grocery costs, he said the Government would seek “to target supports through the social protection system”.
“That is the safety net that we have and the measures we can do to try and support people and families.”
Last year Mr Chambers promised voters they would be at least €1,000 a year better off after the budget.
Asked what this year’s figure would be, he replied: “Providing a figure like that is more challenging this year, to be frank, in that we’ve been clear from a tax perspective ... I’m not in a position to give a figure like that.”
