From top Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Dáil yesterday: Aengus Ó Maoláin
So Leo Varadkar got money from his parents for the deposit to buy his apartment (although…). Fair play to him. And fair play to you if you did the same. Let me be clear at the outset that I have no problem with that, aside from a little jealousy that that option isn’t on the table for me.
What I do have a problem with is that Taoiseach Varadkar seems to think that everyone can just go and get a loan from the bank of Mum and Dad. That or go away for a few years to save enough for a deposit, or just move back in with their parents for a few years to save on the cost of rent.
I’m personally quite angry about this, because on the first take, I am in this situation. We pay about 500 euro per month in rent more than we would be paying if we owned the place we live in.
By the way, we live 500 metres from the Taoiseach.
A deeper reflection on the Taoiseach’s comments makes me even angrier though, because it makes something really clear. The reason Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil aren’t fixing the housing crisis is that they don’t see the problem.
They find it impossible to understand that most people’s parents (if they have both or either) don’t have thirty or forty grand lying around.
They cannot imagine a circumstance where simply moving in with your parents (again if they have them) for a couple of years wouldn’t be appropriate or possible.
They simply cannot fathom that going abroad for a few years to earn money for a deposit could be disastrous for any number of reasons.
The whole Irish economy is built by and for people like Leo Varadkar. Everything is fine, because they have done and are doing very well for themselves, thanks. This failure to empathise with people who are struggling, or find themselves for whatever reason in less ideal circumstances is a serious political failing.
Ireland’s economy is built on luck – and if you are very lucky, it’s a great place to live. But if you’re not on the very top of heap, it’s bad, and it’s getting worse, as Rory Hearne wrote on Monday:
One million people in Ireland are experiencing deprivation.
Compared to before the crash in 2008, we have doubled our consistent poverty rate.
A full quarter of lone parent families and their children are living in consistent poverty.
Three quarters of a million Irish people are living on less than €14,000 per year.
All of those figures are increasing, all while official policy is to bend over backwards to allow foreign multi-billion euro companies to get even wealthier, and step daintily out of the way of the already wealthy to make more and more money off the backs of our own people.
And all of those figures are reflected in Dublin West.
Teachta Dála – TD – means a delegate from the constituency to the Dáil. It should be that every TD should represent their constituency. That means in the case of Leo Varadkar – me and everyone living in Dublin West, one of the most diverse parts of the country.
His lack of empathy, and casual dismissal of the real daily struggles of most people in Ireland and in his constituency should be shocking, and it should be remembered.
If Leo Varadkar’s comments yesterday annoyed you, then you must stop voting for Fine Gael or their facilitators and twins in Fianna Fáil.
Aengus Ó Maoláin is chairperson of the Social Democrats in Dublin West and the party’s representative for Castleknock and Blancharstown.
