This morning.
On RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Sarah McInerney.
Clondalkin Landlord Joe Doyle (top) explains his controversial video (above), tweeted out yesterday by outraged Sinn Féin Housing Spokesman Eoin Ó Broin TD.
From the show…
Joe: “That video is so ridiculously out there that it could not possibly be true.”
Sarah McInerney: “Well, you see that’s the thing? That’s the problem isn’t it? It could be true, it is true. There were 23 tenants living in a three-bed house in Rathmines in 2017, Prime Time found them and we saw, we saw video footage of the disgusting, difficult situation that they were living in.”
Joe: “And would you be putting me, or would you be putting a landlord in the same bracket as the culprits that ran that operation?”
Sarah: “Well, it was a landlord, they were being paid for providing the accommodation.”
Joe: “That, that’s, that’s, it’s someone like that that brings shame on my industry who goes and rents 23 people, one flat. That’s not something that I would interact with. People that, you know, landlords, other property owners I interact with on a daily basis, that’s not them.”
Sarah: “Ok, so I’m not suggesting that you’re involved in doing what that landlord was doing. I’m just asking you do you think it’s OK or acceptable to make fun, as you say, or use those people’s living conditions and different people around the country, in Dublin, and around the country, living conditions, very difficult because they are desperate, because they have no other choice, they don’t have enough money to find proper accommodation. Really abuse and extortion of those people. Do you think it’s acceptable to use their situations to further your own business?”
Joe: “I didn’t use them. Like it’s a joke. Like if somebody wants to be outraged by it, that’s fine, they can be outraged. But like…”
Sarah: “Well you’re banking on people being outraged by it.”
Joe: “But if that’s, if that’s what they want…like it’s nothing, it’s…Half the people thought it was hilarious, the other people wanted to be outraged and that’s fine. And even if we quote Eoin O Broin himself, he said ‘satire is essential to democracy, it doesn’t matter if you agree with the sentiments’.”
Sarah: “OK,well, we don’t need to quote Eoin O Broin because he’s on the line. Eoin, what do you make of it?”
Sinn Féin TD Eoin O Broin: “First of all, I don’t accept it was satire, whether Joe Doyle engages in this kind of practice or not isn’t for me to say, that’s a matter for the inspecting unit in South Dublin County Council, to inspect his properties and decide if they’re legally compliant or not. But if it was an experiment or if it was a joke I think it was a very distasteful one…”
Later
Joe: “I suppose at the same time, if it brings this discussion to the forefront, it’s an important discussion.”
Sarah: “Which discussion?”
Joe: “The discussion of the homeless crisis.”
Silence.
Sarah: “I don’t really understand cause on the one hand you’re making fun of the homeless crisis and people being in very desperate situations and now you’re saying you just want to bring the discussion to the forefront…”
Joe: “I didn’t say I want to bring it to the front, that wasn’t my intention. But if it brings it to the forefront, sure what’s the harm?”
Yesterday: We’re Back, Baby
