Free Sunday?
The Come Here To Me history website’s annual celebration of all things Dubbelin.
Donal Fallon writes:
The fifth CHTM Dublin Songs and Stories night takes place this Sunday in The Sugar Club [Leeson Street, Dublin 2_. Fiddle players, football managers, theatre directors and artists are on the bill, with all profits going to support a young woman who needs to raise €80,000 for a life-changing operation in the United States….
I open the papers to see
That Limerick is the place to be
To have a good time
Swap some of your slime
And come home with an STD.
John Moynes
MORE to folly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTUCKGNHWr0
What you may need to know
1. The new film from Christopher “just give me a god-damn Oscar already” Nolan.
2. He changed superhero movies (possibly peaked them) with the Dark Knight Trilogy and re-energised smart science fiction with Inception (2010) and Interstellar (2014); Nolan is back now with this surprisingly conventional-looking World War II drama based on the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940, when hundreds of thousands of British and Allied soldiers were stranded at the northernmost tip of France. Surrender was on the cards, until a flotilla of fishing boats, yachts and merchant vessels set sail from across the south of England to mount a daring rescue. It’s known as “the miracle of the little ships”.
3. Brexit: the movie basically.
4. The events were previously dramatised in Joe Wright’s Atonement (2007) with this extraordinary 5-minute tracking shot.
5. Good showing for Ireland on the cast, which includes Cillian Murphy – a regular member of Nolan’s troupe – and Love/Hate cat killer Barry Keoghan.
6. Yes, that’s One Direction dreamboat Harry Styles at .48. Now that the pop career has started to dry up, he’s decided to try his hand at acting…and landed a role in the biggest film of the year by the biggest director in the world. How jammy can one kid be? All while Dancing with the Stars and I’m a Celebrity… beckon for the other four. The other three? Whatever.
7. Nolan has been gunning for an Oscar for years. The Dark Knight was denied a richly-deserved nomination in 2008 (the snub eventually led to an increase in Best Picture nominees); Interstellar was in there in 2014, but never had a hope of winning. The director is clearly heeding Ricky Gervais’ advice to Kate Winslet.
8. The production spent $5m on an authentic former Luftwaffe fighter, with the intention of strapping it with an IMAX camera and then crashing it. You’d wonder what is the point in the age of CGI everything, but there you go. Might be a load of guff too, for that matter.
9. It’s a somewhat underwhelming trailer to be honest. That said, it’s the first film Nolan has made without any science fiction or high-concept elements (other than the good-but-not-great Insomnia (2002)), so that’s what is missing. Knowing his propensity for going big on the psychological elements of his characters and stories, one expects that Dunkirk will be just as concerned with personal battles as explosive ones.
Verdict: War, what is it good for? Absolutely Nolan.
Release Date: July 2017
Hush now.
A missing photo from yesterday’s 1916/2016 web archive awards ceremony at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
The team behind the library and its extensive archive, which now includes your comments/analysis, our in-depth reports and Leather Jacket Guy.
Top from left: Maria Ryan (2016 Web Archivist), Ger Wilson, Dr Sandra Collins (NLI Director), Della Keating and Joanna Finegan.
And not a noisy man among them.
Shhh.
FIGHT!
Yesterday: Thank You Very Much
Thanks Orla Sweeney
From top: Housing Minister Simon Coveney; Dr Rory Hearne
A strategy for the rent sector proposed by Housing Minister Simon Coveney which includes rent restrictions in Dublin and Cork city s due to come into effect in the new year.
Rory Hearne writes:
The government’s Strategy for the Rental Sector, while containing the welcome provision of rental restrictions is ultimately flawed because it does not link rent increases to inflation, excludes areas outside Dublin and Cork (particularly the commuter counties), does not provide security of tenure, proposes the sale of public land ‘below market value’ (i.e. give away/privatising a valuable public resource) to global real estate funds to increase ‘supply’, and is based on the failed (and contradictory) market assumptions that increasing rents will lead to further supply and increased supply will lead to affordable rents/house prices.
Firstly, in relation to the Strategy for the Rental Sector, there is no evidence or research provided by the government or the Department of Housing as to how the 4% increase in rents is being justified.
For example, 4% per annum represents 8 times the increase in annual earnings for full-time employees in 2015. It has no justification from price inflation as the (Consumer price index) is running at -0.3%. Within the CPI there is a specific category, Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance, which you would think would be a reasonable indicator as to the main on-going cost for landlords. Inflation for that category is running at -4.3%.
Furthermore, the most recent PRTB rent index for Dublin showed in the last quarter that rental growth moderated significantly, and fell to 0.6% and the annual % change for Dublin houses was 3.3% in Quarter 3 of 2016. So the 4% level is above this ‘market’ level. This is why rent increases should be linked to inflation (the CPI) which is running at -0.3%.
Secondly, it excludes areas outside Dublin and Cork from the designated ‘pressure-zones’. But it indicates they could be included at some point next year. All areas across the country have seen significant increases in rents in recent years – so why are they being excluded?
For example rent in Wicklow increased by 9%, Meath 15%, and Kildare 12% last year. Landlords are very likely (as is already reportedly happening today in Dublin) to inform tenants of substantial rent rises immediately in anticipation of being designated a rent pressure zone in these areas across the country in the coming months. This is why the entire country has to be included in the rental restrictions.
Thirdly, the Strategy for the Rental Sector does not sufficiently address the other major aspect of the rental crisis – that is security of tenure. There is no change to the situation whereby landlords can evict tenants if they intend to sell the property or want it for ‘family ‘use’ and there is insufficient protection for tenants being evicted from buy-to-let properties in receivership being sold on to vulture funds.
Without proper tenant security the rental sector is not a secure form of tenancy whereby people can make a long term home as tenants are left living in constant fear and threat of eviction and homelessness.
The rental strategy proposal actually gives landlords a potential incentive for evicting existing tenants.
Properties that are ‘renovated’ or not let for ‘two years’ are exempt from the rental restrictions so a landlord could evict lower paying tenants, engage in renovations (or leave it idle for two years) and then get new tenants in and charge them much higher rents – which gives the landlord a bigger return over the long term.
The Rental Strategy in fact could worsen security of tenure and homelessness through its proposal for a “fast track process…to enable landlords to regain possession quickly where the non-payment of rent constitutes the grounds for termination.”
Finally, the strategy does not address the fundamental issue of the current unaffordability of rents.
Rents are already too high. So rather than facilitating a further increase in rents there needs to be a strategy to reduce rents. An affordable rent is around 20% of your disposable income. Yet tenants are paying 50% and more on their rent and as a result are going without basic necessities in order to cover their housing costs.
An alternative strategy for affordable homes: A ‘New Deal’ for housing
What is needed to provide affordable rental and homes for ownership is a Roosevelt-like ‘New Deal’ for housing. A massive state-led house building and renovation programme that provides 30,000 affordable homes per year.
It could be done through a new affordable housing state authority – like the ESB delivered electricity across Ireland –that would launch a new housing tenure – community affordable housing involving housing for a broad range of income groups from the lowest income to average and above average income workers.
It would use the huge existing land banks – including that of NAMA – to build mixed income affordable community homes for rent and ownership. Crucially though, the land and housing would always be held ‘in trust’ by the state and not sold on the market – owners could sell it back to the trust – housing wold thus be kept affordable.
Local authorities, housing associations and co-operative housing associations could do it directly or through arms-length trusts. It is cost-neutral as the state can borrow at very low interest rates and it would make a return from the range of rents and ownership models. It would also direct some of the 500 million going to private landlords back to the state.
It could purchase and bring it to use the 35,000 vacant homes in wider Dublin area, and the 27,042 buy-to -lets in arrears (and derelict sites and land being hoarded by vulture funds, NAMA and developers.
Rental Strategy privatises much-needed public land
This is what the public land of local authorities should be used for and not, as the Strategy for the Rental Sector outlines, to be sold to private developers and speculators providing ‘build-to-rent. The proposal to sell off local authority lands is the most serious mistake (and indeed tragedy) in the rental strategy and the government’s wider housing plan.
Page 15 of the strategy outlines that, in order to ““Kick-start supply in rent pressure zones” …”Lands held by local authorities in rent pressure zones will be brought to market on a competitive tendering basis, with a view to leveraging the value of the land to deliver the maximum number of units for rental targeting middle income private rental households”.
This is a shameful use of public land – selling it cheaply for global vulture funds to provide ‘unaffordable’ housing. As the strategy notes through this land subsidy for private developers and financiers “the cost of providing rental units will be permanently reduced by lowering the initial investment and development costs for providers”.
Local authorities are being given immediate instruction, by end January 2017, to “identify a number of sites with the potential for up to 1,000 units of accommodation and will move forward, as soon as possible, to issue calls for proposals from parties interested in developing rental accommodation for middle income households”. As the report notes “these developments are potentially a major engine of growth of supply for the rental sector by tapping new sources of finance from institutional investors such as pension funds and Real Estate Investment Trusts”.
The ironic thing is the private interests who will get below market land from the state will then not be subject to the 4% restriction rent caps as they will be providing new housing. This is the same approach being used in the land initiative for public land in social housing estates like O Devaney Gardens and St Michaels Estate.This is a new form of Public Private Partnership, but as in the previous housing PPPs, the value of the land will be appropriate in the main by the developers and financiers.
Political Choice and Public Attitudes-time of opportunity
So there is a clear political choice here. To focus, as the government is, on achieving ‘supply’ through global wealth investors, vulture landlords and speculative property finance- or the state to lead in a historic programme of providing affordable homes for rent and ownership. One approach will enshrine unaffordable rental and house prices into the future and associated poverty and financial stress for large sections of our population.
It will increase economic inequality as wealth is transferred from the lower income groups in Ireland (renters, young people, first time buyers) to the top 10% wealth holders (from Ireland and across the world). the other approach can deliver and guarantee the human right to housing for all our citizens.
It is a choice the government, and we as a country, have to make. But it is one where we already know the outcomes for each path.
Dr Rory Hearne is a policy analyst, academc, social justice campaigner. He writes here in a personal capacity. Follow Rory on Twitter: @roryhearne
Rental strategy insufficient for affordable homes (Rory Hearne, Progressive Economy)
Previously: Rory Hearne on Broadsheet.ie
This afternoon
Phoenix Park, Dublin .
Members of Garda Siochana at the launch a new Armed Support Unit (ASU) for the Dublin Region at Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park today.
Day glo cars?
FIGHT!
Rollingnews
Want to gain a six pack this Christmas?
Read on
Joe Kearns of Sligo master craft brewers The White Hag, writes:
We’ve had a big year here in The White Hag, from winning Rate Beer best new brewery, to winning all three places for stouts in the Dublin Beer Cup, and several awards for our new sours.
We’ve also had lots of great new bars and bottle shops start stocking our beers, which is the only way we’ll grow as a small brewery.
You guys at broadsheet have been amazing as always, covering any of our launches, events and especially our birthday party. Like lots of other small businesses on here, we wouldn’t get the coverage anywhere else so we appreciate the love from you and your contributors/readers.
To say a small Happy Christmas, we’d like to give you FOUR of our new mixed SIX Packs to give away.
But who would you share your Hag with?
A friend in need? An unsung hero of 2016? Or even a member of your own family.
Just complete this sentence:
‘I shall be splitting my White Hag six pack with______________________________especially this Christmas because______________________’
Hic.
Lines Must close at 4.15pm MIDNIGHT!
Four winners chosen.
From top: A vigil for Mary Boyle in Cashelard, County Donegal on Saturday: Gemma O’Doherty
Tonight Mary Boyle: The Untold Story, the documentary by investigative journalist Gemma O’Doherty will be shown at a special screening in Washington DC.
The documentary, posted in July, has already garned 230,000 views on You Tube.
Last Saturday, a vigil was held for Mary, who went missing in 1977 during a visit to her grandparents’ farm at Cashelard, in Ballyshannon, County Donegal. Her uncle, Gerry Gallagher, was the last person to see her alive. Attempts to question Mr Gallagher were allegedly thwarted by local political interference.
Gemma O’Doherty writes:
There was a large garda presence at the Christmas vigil for Mary Boyle in Cashelard.
Officers guarded the entry to Gerry Gallagher’s farm, where many believe Mary was murdered and her body is dumped.
Two garda squad cars and an unmarked vehicle monitored the event in a pathetic display of political policing and wasted garda resources.
One detective present sneered at recent efforts by retired officers to reveal the truth about the case and made disparaging comments about them.
As I listened to him, I was reminded of the day in 2014 when disgraced Commissioner Callinan labelled whistleblowers ‘disgusting’.
But the citizens who came from far and near were not intimidated by their presence and did not allow it to sully the memorial event for Mary. Candles were lit, carols were sung and prayers were said for her on the lonely boreen where she was driven to her death almost 40 years ago.
Mary’s family were once again notable by their absence, and there was a distinct lack of people from the environment where we believe she was murdered, revealing the fear and control that some in the area still exert over others.
There is a cohort in Ballyshannon who would like to keep the veil of secrecy drawn over this case but they are turning into a minority.
What I noticed on my latest journey to Donegal is how withered and weakened the bullies of Bundoran and Ballyshannon have become: the untouchables untouched by the law; the evil men who thought they could keep a lid on the vile abuse being perpetrated against vulnerable children in the area, right up to the current day. They are now shadows of themselves.
They know the truth is unstoppable and they are frightened about what might be revealed. For the first time in their adult lives, their power is being challenged and they don’t know how to handle that.
Individual gardai who have shielded paedophiles are getting anxious that they too could be individually held to account for abusing their power and perverting the course of justice. When they travel to Cashelard for dubious reasons, they are being monitored and recorded.
They know their commissioner’s days are numbered and that the public is increasingly beginning to take a stand against the corruption that has infested our police force.
It is up to the Irish people to keep the pressure on Mary Boyle’s family and the gardai to return her remains so she can be given a decent burial.
There is no organised justice campaign for Mary per se but a grassroots movement has developed throughout the country and beyond, and that is the way it should be.
If you struggle to know what to do, just the smallest gesture of tying a purple ribbon to your car or wearing one on your collar will help. Hold a Christmas vigil for Mary in your town or village. Put up posters of her in your locality. Do anything you can to remember a child who must not be forgotten.
Time is running out and the gardai know that. The chief suspect and those who shield him are progressing in years, and when they die, the possibility of finding Mary’s remains dies with them.
So please keep the pressure on in whatever way you can, especially in Donegal, in the hope that justice can finally be done for Mary before her 40th anniversary in March 2017.
Previously Mary Boyle on Broadsheet
