Latest news with #MichaelDHiggins
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Rent pressure zone extension signed into law
Rent pressure zones have been extended nationwide following the signing of emergency legislation into law by President Michael D Higgins. The system, which caps rent increases at the rate of inflation or 2 per cent, whichever is lower, have also been extended until the end of February after originally being due to expire at the end of the year. Advertisement If no action had been taken, there would have left a two-month gap before the Government's proposed changes to the rental sector are due to take effect in March. The measures were rushed through the Dáil and the Seanad this week before being signed into law by Mr Higgins on Thursday evening. The Government is being pressured again over the housing crisis after announcing a swathe of new rent and housing measures. This includes the introduction of rent caps nationwide of 2 per cent or to inflation, whichever is lower. Advertisement This will apply to around a fifth of tenancies not already covered, but has been criticised for allowing rents to 'reset' to the market rate when renters voluntarily leave a tenancy. New six-year minimum tenancies on offer from March next year have been criticised for allowing landlords to 'reset' rents every six years. Earlier, Minister for Housing James Browne said the target to build 41,000 new homes this year was 'not realistic'. Mr Browne has admitted previously that meeting the 2025 target would be 'extremely challenging' and all predictions are trending around 34,000. Advertisement Speaking on Newstalk on Thursday, he said he is committed to enacting a 'step change' in the housing department and will clear 'the dead wood out of the way so that homes can get delivered'. 'I think the challenge we have this year is we're coming off a much lower base from last year than was expected,' he said of the housing targets. 'We had hoped for much higher figures last year. 'I think, looking at all of the different predictions, which are fairly consistent, I think 41,000 is not realistic for this year. Advertisement 'We will wait to see how the year works out. I don't particularly like getting into predictions. 'My position as minister is to maximise supply, maximise the delivery of new homes and, irrespective of what the housing numbers will be this year, I'm making a step change so we can get that housing supply up, because we need to get from 30,000 onto 50,000, on to 60,000 houses. '40,000 houses is nowhere near enough.' The last Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition built more than 130,000 homes between 2020 and 2024, while the current coalition has set a target of in excess of 300,000 new homes between 2025 and 2030. Advertisement The target for this year is 41,000 new builds, despite the fact the Government missed its target of 33,450 last year and also missed its new-build social housing target by 1,429 last year. The Central Bank has also projected the Government will miss its own housing targets by a wide margin for the next three years – and on Thursday revised its prediction down further, predicting 32,500 newbuilds by the end of 2025. Ireland Rent pressure zones: What are they and what change... Read More The Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Government, supported by several independents, has insisted boosting supply is the best way to encourage affordability while opposition parties argue more state-owned homes and regulation is needed. 'We'd gotten to a point with housing where we had seen a very significant increase in supply over the last number of years, and then it's plateaued,' Tanaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said. 'The job of this government, and the job we're working on day in day out, is to get that momentum back.'
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Renters and politicians in pressure zone as housing Bill to be signed into law
On the day that this Government's first landmark housing Bill is expected to be signed into law, it appears that it's tenants and politicians, rather than high rents, that are in the pressure zone. Reform of rent pressure zones (RPZs) has been the political story of the week. Legislation to extend RPZs to the entire country passed the Dáil yesterday and is due to be rushed through the Seanad today. If President Michael D Higgins signs the legislation immediately, we would all be waking up tomorrow in an almost all-island RPZ. Minister for Housing James Browne may be feeling a little beleaguered having spent the week mounting a gallant defence of his RPZ reforms from attacks from the Opposition, doctors, students, protesters and AirBnB owners. So he will not thank the Central Bank for its assessment of the impact of RPZs, which it says will be 'painful' for renters. In our lead story today, Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports from the launch of the Central Bank's quarterly bulletin where the bank's director of economics and statistics was asked about the reforms. READ MORE Any delight the Government may feel about Robert Kelly's assessment that the reforms will increase supply will be blunted by the Central Bank downgrading its forecasts for new home completions in the near term. Under the Government's proposals, any pain will have to come before the gain. Even in the best case scenario, it's almost certain that many tenants will see their rents rocket to high market rates long before any new apartments are built. And the Government won't have much time to catch its breath between one high profile political issue and another. My colleague Jack Horgan-Jones was reporting last night that, in advance of some version of the Occupied Territories Bill going to Cabinet next week, it's expected that the proposed law will not include services. The Government benches will likely spend next week in defence mode again, due to the extremely high profile nature of the OTB and the significant public interest in it. Opposition smells blood in the water over RPZ changes Listen | 35:51 Health Representatives of Children's Health Ireland are due to appear before politicians on the health committee this morning, to answer questions about how children with dysplasia and scoliosis have been treated at Ireland's paediatric hospitals. New chief executive Lucy Nugent will be under pressure to get a conciliatory tone right, as TDs and senators are already extremely suspicious of what they perceive as a toxic culture that is embedded within CHI. Meanwhile, another health issue continues to dominate the political agenda. Following his appearance before the same health committee yesterday, Minister of State for older people Kieran O'Donnell said that the Department of Health has commissioned a report on the effect that mass privatisation of the nursing home sector has had on the standards of care offered to older and more vulnerable people. As Shauna Bowers and Marie O'Halloran are reporting today, this follows a programme by RTÉ Investigates that highlighted instances of alleged abuse at Beneavin Manor, Dublin, and The Residence, Portlaoise. Both homes are run by Emeis, the largest provider of private nursing home beds in the State. It comes after the Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil that the 'nuclear option' of closing a nursing home for significant failings 'has to be on the table'. He said it was up to the HSE and others 'to resolve the consequential crisis that occurs when a decision to close is made. But we shouldn't baulk from that decision because of that.' The Taoiseach said he had 'no issue' with larger fines for repeated failures but stressed closure had to be an option. Middle East It would be easy to keep an insular focus on our own domestic affairs, while ominous reports of the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran continue to threaten the front pages . As well as comprehensive coverage in our World News section of the crisis – including Michael Jansen's analysis of how Iran's regional allies cannot help, and the Iranian TV anchor who has become a national symbol of resistance after being bombed while live on air – Sally Hayden has a report on the cryptic clues from US president Donald Trump about the US possibly intervening on behalf of Israel. 'I may do it, I may not do it, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this: that Iran's got a lot of trouble.' It comes as we wake up to reports from the other side of the Atlantic that Trump has approved plans to attack Iran , but according to CBS has not yet made a final decision on whether to strike the Middle Eastern nuclear power. Best reads Miriam Lord is writing about the righteous anguish of the Taoiseach, who is aggrieved at how many interruptions he's enduring in the Dail.Dáil can't get my points across because of this constant pressure.' Mark Paul takes us inside the feverish melee at Westminster Magistrates Court, where Kneecap 's Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh got the rockstar treatment at his hearing on Wednesday. Ó hAnnaidh, whose stage name is Mo Chara, was charged under UK antiterrorism legislation with showing support for a proscribed organisation. Newton Emerson writes in his column today about how he turned to YouTuber 'FreedomDad73′ for live coverage of the Ballymena riots, and what that means about media coverage in Northern Ireland and more broadly. Dáil schedule 8.47am Oral questions to Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke 10.24am Oral questions to Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary 12.00pm Leaders' Questions 12.34pm Other Members' Questions 12.42pm Questions on policy or legislation 1.52pm Government Business is second stage of the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Bill 2025, which is a bill about royalty payments designed to bring Ireland in line with an EU Copyright Directive 5.26pm Topical issues 6.26pm Private Members' Bill, which is second stage of Sinn Féin's Healthcare (Transparent Payments) Bill 2022 – a bill which would require healthcare workers to declare gifts and payments that they receive. In the Seanad 9.30am Commencement matters 10.30am Order of Business 11.45am Government business, which is devoted to passing all stages of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025 – making the entire country a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) ... 1.45pm ... followed by a motion without debate allowing the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025 to be signed into law quickly 2.00pm Government business is committee stage of the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024 Oireachtas committtes Today's Oireachtas committee meetings include an high profile appearance of CHI before the health committee and scrutiny of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025, legislation to unravel the triple lock, before the Joint Committee on Defence and National Security. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is busy with a number of C & AG reports, including one on the Department of Housing's decision to grant exceptional funding to the Peter McVerry Trust. The Joint Committee on Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community will consider the current funding strategy for Traveller-specific accommodation. You can read the full schedule here
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
President Higgins has ‘no intention' of remaining silent while democracy ‘under threat'
President Michael D Higgins says he has 'no intention' of remaining silent while the bombardment of Gaza continues. Mr Higgins signalled that he does not plan to go quietly into retirement ahead of his second and final term in Áras an Uachtaráin ending in November. He said he believed there was 'no point in what is left of my own life, and all of the rest of it, pretending it is just an ordinary period of time'. 'It is a dangerous period of time when democracy itself is under threat,' he said. READ MORE Mr Higgins was applauded for his remarks which he made to a crowd of some 500 people who gathered in the grounds of the Áras on Sunday to mark Bloomsday , a celebration of James Joyce . He said the Ulysses author lived through two World Wars and was anti-war. The President urged the world not to forget the fate of the people of Gaza even while attention turned to the conflict between Israel and Iran. 'Why has it taken so long to bring food and medicine and water to do those who need it?' he asked regarding the situation in Gaza. 'It was a great human failure. I will have opportunities to address those subjects again.' Mr Higgins's commentary on Gaza has previously drawn the ire of the Israeli government, but he has repeatedly said criticising Israel's actions is not anti-Semitism and to suggest otherwise is a 'disgrace and a slander'. The President also criticised the 'dangerous authoritarianism' that has impacted American academia since at Trump administration took charge. 'What that authoritarianism promises us is a life without the arts, without the contribution of artists, limited public opportunities for sharing cultural experiences and of never being lifted to transcendence by performance in its many forms,' he said. 'Such a life will constitute a much diminished existence, an unfulfilling encounter with life, one devoid of beauty, creativity and human expression. It must be called out for that which it others.' Mr Higgins said his most pleasant days in the Áras involved being surrounded by musicians and other performers. Straw boaters, strawberries and even a smattering of sunshine marked his final celebration of Bloomsday, marking June 16th, 1904, the day that Joyce met Nora Barnacle and immortalised in Ulysses. Regarding Joyce, Mr Higgins said he hoped his term in office would 'repair, or at least gently redress, the often strained relationship between Ireland and one of its most brilliant – and most exiled – sons'. In the course of 14 years as President, he had seen Joyce's grandson Stephen's final wish fulfilled. The Joyce poem A Flower Given to My Daughter was inscribed on the family grave in Fluntern cemetery in Zurich, Switzerland, in honour of the author's daughter Lucia Joyce. Mr Higgins visited Joyce's grave in Zurich in 2018 and in January of last year he unveiled a plaque in Galway's Rahoon cemetery marking the grave of Michael 'Sonny' Bodkin and its connection to Barnacle, Joyce and his masterpiece The Dead. President Michael D Higgins delivering a speech in the grounds of Aras an Uachtárain on Sunday He also awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award to Dr Fritz Senn and Prof Enrico Terrinoni for their contributions to Joycean scholarship. Prof Terrinoni brought Ulysses to new life for Italian readers with his translation of the work in 2021. The garden party featured a play, Ulysses aWake, from a Blackrock-based street theatre group written by Nastaise Leddy and Iris Park. Singer Noel O'Grady sang three songs, one of which he dedicated to the singer Johnny Duhan, who tragically drowned last November.
Irish Independent
10-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Fianna Fáil to choose ‘definitive position' on Irish presidential election by the end of the month
The Taoiseach has said his party will take 'some definitive position' by the end of this month, and has already 'taken soundings'. Highly placed sources said the party needs a 'run out' for the presidency for the first time since backing Mary McAleese, from Northern Ireland, in 1997. Mrs McAleese was unopposed when she nominated herself for a second term in 2004. By its expiry in 2011, Fianna Fáil was being blamed for the disastrous economic crash and chose to sit out the contest that elected President Michael D Higgins. Independent Seán Gallagher, acknowledged as being from the Fianna Fáil gene pool, contested both the 2011 and 2018 elections, with Fianna Fáil backing President Higgins for a renewed mandate on the basis of his performance over the first seven years. The Executive Council will decide in the coming weeks the timeline and process for the selection of a Fine Gael candidate It is believed Micheál Martin wants the party to run a candidate this time round, although he has made clear it will not be himself. The parliamentary party will officially select a candidate – with the leader looming over it. Mr Martin previously oversaw the expulsion of Bertie Ahern from Fianna Fáil, which he has since rejoined, which does not bode well for a possible run by the former taoiseach – a three-time general election winner. 'We'll assess it in the next few months,' a senior source said of the election. 'It will be a different election to the ones we've had for the last while. Things generally don't firm up until after the summer.' It is certain that there will be no agreed government candidate backed by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. A spokesperson for Fine Gael said: 'The Executive Council will decide in the coming weeks the timeline and process for the selection of a Fine Gael candidate for the forthcoming presidential election.' Tánaiste Simon Harris has already made it abundantly clear that Fine Gael, which has never won the presidency, and which chose not to run a candidate in 2018, will be doing so this time. Its last candidate, Gay Mitchell, garnered just 6.4pc of first preferences in 2011 and was placed fourth, after beating Mairead McGuinness to the nomination. ADVERTISEMENT A spokesperson for the Labour Party said it 'continues to work with cross-party colleagues in the hope to run a candidate to continue the legacy of President Michael D Higgins'. Mr Higgins was formerly nominated by the Labour Party, which now requires the support of the Social Democrats to reach the 20 Oireachtas members needed to nominate. Both parties were elected with 11 TDs, but Eoin Hayes has since been suspended by the Social Democrats over his sale of shares from a company which supplies technology to the Israeli military. Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik is understood to have been sounding out one or two targets, with some reluctance expressed in return that any 'combined left' effort would be badged with Sinn Féin. Ms Bacik wrote to the Social Democrats at the start of the year in pursuit of a joint venture, and also to Roderic O'Gorman, the sole Dáil representative of the Green Party.
Irish Independent
10-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Fianna Fáil expected to choose official candidate for Irish presidential election by the end of the month
The Taoiseach has said his party will take 'some definitive position' by the end of this month, and has already 'taken soundings'. Highly placed sources said the party needs a 'run out' for the presidency for the first time since backing Mary McAleese, from Northern Ireland, in 1997. Mrs McAleese was unopposed when she nominated herself for a second term in 2004. By its expiry in 2011, Fianna Fáil was being blamed for the disastrous economic crash and chose to sit out the contest that elected President Michael D Higgins. Independent Seán Gallagher, acknowledged as being from the Fianna Fáil gene pool, contested both the 2011 and 2018 elections, with Fianna Fáil backing President Higgins for a renewed mandate on the basis of his performance over the first seven years. The Executive Council will decide in the coming weeks the timeline and process for the selection of a Fine Gael candidate It is believed Micheál Martin wants the party to run a candidate this time round, although he has made clear it will not be himself. The parliamentary party will officially select a candidate – with the leader looming over it. Mr Martin previously oversaw the expulsion of Bertie Ahern from Fianna Fáil, which he has since rejoined, which does not bode well for a possible run by the former taoiseach – a three-time general election winner. 'We'll assess it in the next few months,' a senior source said of the election. 'It will be a different election to the ones we've had for the last while. Things generally don't firm up until after the summer.' It is certain that there will be no agreed government candidate backed by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. A spokesperson for Fine Gael said: 'The Executive Council will decide in the coming weeks the timeline and process for the selection of a Fine Gael candidate for the forthcoming presidential election.' Tánaiste Simon Harris has already made it abundantly clear that Fine Gael, which has never won the presidency, and which chose not to run a candidate in 2018, will be doing so this time. Its last candidate, Gay Mitchell, garnered just 6.4pc of first preferences in 2011 and was placed fourth, after beating Mairead McGuinness to the nomination. A spokesperson for the Labour Party said it 'continues to work with cross-party colleagues in the hope to run a candidate to continue the legacy of President Michael D Higgins'. Mr Higgins was formerly nominated by the Labour Party, which now requires the support of the Social Democrats to reach the 20 Oireachtas members needed to nominate. Both parties were elected with 11 TDs, but Eoin Hayes has since been suspended by the Social Democrats over his sale of shares from a company which supplies technology to the Israeli military. Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik is understood to have been sounding out one or two targets, with some reluctance expressed in return that any 'combined left' effort would be badged with Sinn Féin. Ms Bacik wrote to the Social Democrats at the start of the year in pursuit of a joint venture, and also to Roderic O'Gorman, the sole Dáil representative of the Green Party.
