Richard Boyd Barrett
Dún Laoghaire · People Before Profit-Solidarity · Ireland
“It is absolutely incredible that about 50% to 57% of all professional artists in this country live on or below the poverty line - three times the level of poverty in Irish society generally.”
“On a global level, the consumption of electricity by data centres is due to go up elevenfold by 2030. They are hoovering up the water resources and electricity resources of the planet. There will not be much human creativity, art or music if we have no water and no energy. That is what is going on with these people.”
“St. Joseph's Centre in Shankill is the largest care home dedicated solely to dementia care in the country. SIPTU members feel compelled to take industrial action tomorrow because of the failure of St. John of God's to recognise the work and duties that they do.”
“These people actually want to replace human beings and human creativity with AI. That would literally be the road to disaster for humanity. Some people think about AI as if it is cutting edge and the most advanced thing possible, but AI is like the Neanderthal.”
“Against that background, we are seeing these billionaires who run AI looking to steal en masse all of the artistic and creative output of humanity and to profit from it. The artists rightly are asking what the Government is going to do to prevent them making a bad situation for most artists and performers even worse.”
“I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for bringing this motion forward. As Deputy Paul Murphy indicated, People Before Profit is very happy to support and commend all the artists, organisations, musicians and so on who are campaigning to bring this forward.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,055 lines we hold for Richard Boyd Barrett, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 16 of 22.
“There is almost nothing they could not potentially sue a government over or sue courts for making decisions where they infringed on their right to make profits. All of this would be done via a parallel legal system which is only available to corporations and not available to ordinary people. It is really quite shocking and unbelievable but not terribly surprising from a government whose entire policy seems to be to hand things over to investors, hedge funds, vulture funds and big corporations so that they can make profits while limiting the ability of this House or the legal system to ever do anything about it in the future. It is an absolute sell-out. We absolutely oppose this. None of that means we are against trade - fair trade.”
“We could be sued in a parallel legal system, the investor court system, by property investors, vulture funds in other words. Wealth management companies could sue on the basis that they had invested in Irish property and the Government's actions might infringe on their ability to make profits in the future. It is absolutely shocking this is being proposed. As has been said, once we are in, we are in for 20 years before we can before we can get out. It undermines our legislative and judicial sovereignty. It is an absolute outrage. There are potentially many different areas where these investors could sue governments on issues such as bringing in legislation to protect workers' rights to protecting the environment or protecting water quality.”
“It is happening. As has been mentioned already, on key issues like housing we have IRES REIT, the biggest landlord in the country, based in Canada. If we could succeed in getting Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael out, we could potentially bring in meaningful rent controls, things like no-fault evictions, which I believe should happen, and that land being held by land bankers and speculators should be taken off them. They should not be allowed to hang onto land and speculate on property prices which are significantly causing and exacerbating the housing crisis in this country. While we know that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael do not want to do it, a future government should be free to do the kinds of things the Kenny report proposed - to take the land bank into public ownership. However, this would be prohibited.”
“Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union allows member states to leave the EU with two years' notice, but with the investor court system which we are signing up to, we would be bound under the obligations of the investor court system, a parallel justice system which subverts our own legal and legislative systems, for 20 years. We could be potentially sued by corporations which decide that the actions of the courts or a government here infringe on their rights and expectations to make profits. You could not make it up. We will be tied into those agreements for 20 years. As has been said, this is not a hypothetical. This stuff is happening. ExxonMobil, one of the biggest oil companies in the world, has done it. Philip Morris, the big cigarette company, has done it. French waste companies have sued the Argentinian Government.”
“This innocuously named Arbitration (Amendment) Bill is a sell-out to the corporations. It is the definition of the corporate takeover of Europe and the Government wants to sign us up to this. If we do, it will be very difficult to get out of it. As Dr. Oisin Suttle in the Maynooth department of law wrote in a thing I was reading this morning, in other areas of international law, where a state signs up to them, you can get out relatively easily. You give a bit of notice. We sign up to international agreements, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, where we give away a bit of sovereignty to these international institutions, but we can get out within six months of doing that.”
“I joined disabled activists and disability groups in a protest outside the Dáil this morning. They were protesting over the fact that the recent budget has plunged them into poverty. One disabled person described how, for example, he has to sit down and consider whether he can put one bar or two bars on the gas heater that he sits beside. He described his own personal humiliation at having to go to food banks to get sandwiches because he cannot afford food. They were pleading with this Government for an emergency winter payment to be provided to deal with this and for a cost-of-disability payment. Will the Minister respond?”
“I know we have produced some like "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" and "Michael Collins" but it is quite a while since we did any of those big historical productions. I have run out of time. There should be more going in to celebrate our cultural heritage, our rich history and so on and some of the incredible cultural artistic talent that we have in this country than is currently the case.”
“Some good stuff has happened in the last year, with a bit more money going to indigenous, small, young, new people and so on. I am very glad to see that and it is great to see the success, which shows what is possible. However, why is there not more stuff done about the incredible historic and cultural heritage this country has? A few weeks ago on an American streamer, I saw a feature film about Daniel O'Connell, which was dreadful. It was made in America with an all-American cast. It was absolutely dreadful. I was wondering why we did not make a film about Daniel O'Connell. Then I thought, where's our Gulliver's Travels ? Where is our Dracula seeing as the book originated here? Where are our productions about Robert Emmet and the United Irishmen? Where is our film about Constance Markievicz? Where is all this stuff?”
“The film production company, which gets a lot of money from the Irish State, had a phalanx of legal advisers, experts, suits. Who paid for them to sit there and say to people they knew had worked on film productions funded by the State, "We have no employment relationship with you"? I do not know how many times these things have been said to the Government. When are we going to end this situation? It is just not fair that film crews have been blacklisted out of the industry. It is not fair that actors, performers and so on can be told to sign buyout contracts and not get their residuals and royalties as they did once upon a time. I believe that situation has to end. I want to speak about the culture test. Ultimately these things may be somewhat related. I may be going slightly more out on a limb.”
“I completely reject that. We need all these people and all of them deserve to be treated with respect. In reality, the people who do the best out of it all are the producers. This may be a little sign of the way the industry is going. I do not want to sound too nostalgic but in the old days when the credits used to roll on films, we saw the names of the actors, the directors and the various crew people who made it happen. They were the most prominent things. Now, with an awful lot of TV and film productions, the most prominent things, often coming up first on the credits, are a long list of the names of the producers, the suits. The suits come up first. I think that is emblematic of what is going on in these industries. I went into the Labour Court with those stagehands. They had no legal representation at all.”
“If you do not sign that contract, you will not be working in this town again. It is as simple as that. Everybody knows it. It is the dirty secret but we do not acknowledge it. People are afraid even to speak about it because if they speak about it publicly, they may never work in this town again but everybody knows it. What are we going to do about it? Given that the producer companies are getting all this money - as I said, I actively want us to invest in these areas - I believe we have to safeguard the rights of the talent. By the way, when I use the phrase "the talent", all of them are talent, including the guys who build the sets and paint the sets, the transport workers, right up to the actors, the make-up people and all the rest of it. Often a distinction is made between those in front of the camera and those behind the camera.”
“Now, however, apart from those A-listers or those whose agent can negotiate a better situation for them, in order to get a contract, they are handed a buyout contract where to get the job they have to sign away their right to royalties and residuals in the future. It is supposedly voluntary but the truth is that if they do not sign that, they will not be getting the job. The Minister of State may have heard the phrase "You'll never work in this town again". There is a reason that is a familiar phrase to most people because it comes from showbiz. It was probably first heard in Hollywood or somewhere. This is a phrase that exists in the culture and arts, and film industry. It very much exists here. That phrase probably did not originate here - it probably originated in Hollywood or wherever - but it exists in reality here.”
“Despite the billions coming out of section 481 over the years, at €500 million now to go to €750 million from the film board, most of our actors and most people who work in the film industry live in poverty. While there are a few A-listers, the vast majority of them are not A-listers but they are absolutely critical to the existence of the industry, an industry where there are no jobs and there is very little infrastructure for all those billions, by the way. Where are our studios? We sold the last bit of Ardmore to an American company. Where is our infrastructure for all the billions we put in? We do not have any. Where did it go? Who has it for all those billions? I am sorry about going off the point there. For the actors, performers, writers and so on, those residuals are critical.”
“We need to make the giving-out of these moneys conditional on that abuse stopping and the rights of workers need to be fully vindicated. Similarly with the actors and performers, the issues are different but it is to do with use of buyout contracts. The officials will be familiar with this. I know the Minister of State is new in the job and she might not be as familiar. Most actors at the best of times have a pretty precarious existence and do not really know when the next job is coming or where the next paycheck is coming from. Once upon a time they got royalties or residuals for previous performances they did on films. When films or TV series were shown again, they might get a small cheque of a few hundred quid in the post, which would be very welcome.”
“I am in favour of that money being given out but I am concerned that we are giving out billions to people who say they have no employees. The industry test as required by EU law is that we build up companies of scale. I think "companies of scale" is the phrase used in the EU directive. How can a company be a company of scale if it has no employees? Again and again, they go into the court and their employees come in and say, "You're my employer", but the person running the company says, "No, I don't have employees. I've never had employees. There are no employees. They are employed by a DAC that is now wound up". It is an abuse and it has to be stopped. It is completely unfair. I hope I have explained that.”
“They are blacklisted and they are left high and dry with nothing. Many of them would say they have been blacklisted out of the industry, having sometimes worked for 20, 30 or 40 years in the film industry. They are left high and dry with nothing because the people who have employed them again and again hide behind these DACs even though they are claiming large amounts of money. Looking at the amount of money, if we have reached the limit of €500 million, half a billion has been given out since this started and we are now going to go up to over three quarters of a billion over the next few years. That is a lot of money. When you look at section 481 or its predecessors, it is probably €3 billion or €4 billion. That is a lot of money.”
“It is an abuse because, on the one hand, the company gets the money from the State on the basis that it is creating jobs, and on the other hand, when the people it is supposed to be employing say it is their employer but it is not giving them their rights, it says it has never employed them and has no employment relationship with them whatsoever. It might have set up the DAC but that is not the company but somebody else. To me, that is an abuse and should not be allowed to carry on. We have to stop giving money to film producer companies which are doing that until it is rectified. What is the human cost of all of this? People who worked, in the case of that stagehand for 18 years in the film industry, are essentially cast out of the film industry because they try to assert their rights.”
“It revolves around the fact that state aid to film producer companies in this country is contingent on giving quality employment and training. They get the money because they are providing employment but when people who worked on film productions made by those recipients and film producer companies which get the money take cases against their employer over, for example, not getting their employment rights properly vindicated, the film producer company goes into the WRC or the Labour Court and says it does not have any employees. It says the designated activity company, DAC, it set up has the employees, therefore the film producer company is not really their employer. That is sort of laughable. It is Russian doll sort of stuff.”
“I do not know how many times I have explained it. I will table an amendment on Committee Stage of this Bill saying that the giving out of grants and loans by the Irish Film Board should be contingent on very strict adherence to the obligations under fixed-term workers legislation, and that we do not have, as I certainly believe is the case, the issue with the cases taken by the stagehands. To try to summarise it, the WRC found in favour of the stagehands. The Labour Court then overturned that decision but then it went to the High Court and it essentially found in favour again of the stagehands. I do not think the Labour Court decision has been fully quashed yet but the High Court found in favour of the stagehands. There have been many of these cases.”
“There are a few others but they are the major recipients of State support for the film industry. The first thing I would ask the Government, as I have repeatedly, but on this particular ruling, relates to the Departments of Finance and arts. Finance is relevant to section 481, although not so much to the Irish Film Board but obviously the film industry benefits from funding both from the Irish Film Board via the Department of arts and it and the Department of Finance through section 481. I ask them to look at that decision made in the courts because it related to a case taken by stagehands to the WRC over the failure over the film producer companies, which get money from the Irish Film Board and section 481 to vindicate their rights under the fixed-term workers legislation. It is complicated.”
“I am not sure if the Minister of State or Department are aware of this. There was a decision by Mr. Justice Garrett Simons in the High Court, in a case taken by stagehands who have worked in the Irish film industry. I was just looking through the details. I have not had the time to look at all of it and I have not read the full ruling. The judge found in their favour against motions put by one of the major recipients of Irish Film Board grants and of section 481 funding, one of the two biggest film producer companies in this country, Metropolitan Pictures. Similar types of cases have been and are being taken against the other major recipient by people who worked on Irish film productions for Element Pictures, the other major recipient. They are the two dominant recipients.”
“I do not think it is a surprise to anybody because we know we have a tremendous pool of talent and creativity in this country, including writers, actors, musicians, the crew and all the various people who work in film. Enormous talent exists. It should not be a surprise that given the right support, they can achieve absolutely incredible things. It is right to list the successes and awards that have been achieved. I applaud all of that. I am also concerned that while we need to increase the supports, we are not meeting those tests, particularly the requirement for quality employment and training in the film industry. There are two main dimensions of that that I want to talk about. First of all, there is the issue which was highlighted again in the High Court in the past few weeks.”
“At one level, I welcome an increased commitment to support the film industry but I also, as the Minister of State, and certainly as officials in the Department of arts will know, have concerns about the conditions attached to that funding and whether the requirements for state aid to the film industry, which are set down in EU directives and, in the case of section 481, are legislated for, that you have to fulfil certain requirements in order to receive state aid for film, and the culture and industry tests, are being met. There is no doubt, and many people have talked rightly, about the huge talent we have, and the successes we have seen in the film industry.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. As I understand it, it is about raising the aggregate amount that Screen Ireland can give out, presumably because we are near the limit of €500 million. The Bill proposes to raise this to €800 million. I have long and repeatedly argued that we should increase the amount of money that we put into artistic and cultural endeavour generally, and into film.”
“Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister for Transport to impose such regulations to prevent Uber destroying the industry and livelihoods of taxi drivers around this fixed fare system and enforce the taxi regulation and meter stuff?”
“The Taxi Regulation Act 2013 clearly gives the Minister the power to impose regulations around the activities of dispatch companies. Today, for the third time in two weeks, taxi drivers in Dublin are protesting. There is a widespread protest against this across the country by taxi drivers over the behaviour of Uber, a multimillion euro company, that is trying to undermine the livelihood of nearly 20,000 taxi drivers by introducing a fixed fare system. This will undermine the regulated fare structure and therefore the livelihoods of taxi drivers and ultimately the industry itself. In the long run, as is clear from Uber's behaviour elsewhere in the world, it will not benefit the customer. Once the company gets hold of a market, fares and charges go up and the livelihoods of taxi drivers get smashed.”
“The Taoiseach said he discussed Gaza and Palestine with Keir Starmer. A standard tactic of the Israeli state has been to say that anybody who criticises Israel for genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing or the persecution of Palestinians, is somehow antisemitic. Keir Starmer, of course, has a record of going along with that nonsense and attacking people like Jeremy Corbyn, who is one of the most long-standing anti-racists and an absolute opponent of antisemitism. It is an outrageous accusation. We have now seen an instance of our own ambassador being dressed down by an Israeli minister, who accused the Irish people and the Irish Government of antisemitism. I would like to know what the Taoiseach thinks about that. Is he capitulating to that bullying by the Israeli state by intervening on the proposal to rename Herzog Park?”
“Often, they have done it precisely because some of these disgusting factions were willing to police the migration from these countries of desperate people trying to flee an horrific situation. Honestly, you could not make up the hypocrisy and double standards around this.”
“It was divide and rule. They did what they did in Ireland, setting the Catholics against the Protestants, in order to make sure they controlled the region and that the people of the region did not democratically control their own resources. This is the same playbook that has been playing out in Sudan and the entire region. They back dictatorships, and back this faction against that faction, as long as they control the resources or their allies get what they want, or Red Sea routes, or whatever it is. Of course, on top of all of this, they are backing governments that are imposing brutal austerity on an incredibly poor country. It is complicated, and too complicated to discuss in the time available, but the hypocrisy and double standards of some of the external players, including western governments here, is stunning.”
“There is also the question of access to the Red Sea and various battles going on between different states, in turn backed by western governments. Let us remember the el-Sisi dictatorship in Egypt, which brutally crushed the Arab Spring in Egypt. It is backed by the United States and western governments and treated like a normal government, when the people who led the democratic uprising in Egypt are all languishing in jail being tortured, yet we pretend the Egyptian regime is somehow normal. The policy was summed up by the first governor general of Jerusalem, Ronald Storrs, in 1936, when he was asked why the British were backing Zionism and what would later be the Nakba and the destruction of Palestinians. He said they wanted to create a loyal little Jewish Ulster in the Middle East to guard against a potentially hostile sea of Arabism.”
“In actuality, the entirety of western foreign policy, that is, US and European foreign policy, has been to prevent democracy, back dictatorships and divide and rule the population to ensure we do not have successful democratic revolutions in places such as Sudan, where ordinary people might take control of their resources and of strategically important areas. Some of the strategically important resources have been mentioned, including gold. The UAE is involved big-time. We have trade relations with the UAE, and it is armed by France and the United States. Europe and America are backing these regimes. The Egyptian regime has its interests, in terms of plans by Ethiopia to build a dam that will impact on the movement of the Nile and who gets what share of the Nile and so on, so it is backing other forces and particular factions.”
“I heard some people say those who are campaigning and advocating for the people of Palestine are not speaking about Sudan. We were, back when the revolution was happening, and we are now, but there is a connection between these two things. The connection is very important and brings it into sharp focus. What is the western agenda in this region and in the wider Middle Eastern region? In the popular narrative purveyed by western leaders over the years, including the US, the European Union and so on, it is to support democracy and be supporters of democracy.”
“That was a revolution not based on siding with either of the two factions responsible for this horror; it was a grassroots rebellion of people against the austerity and poverty being imposed and backed by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, our friends in the IMF, the purveyors of austerity across the world. There are layers and layers to this but, in essence, it is the old divide-and-rule tactic being used by different factions in the Sudanese ruling class fighting over power against a population that was rising up against them and, in turn, the alignment of both of these factions, which are guilty of the genocide, with external powers which, ultimately, are tied up with big western powers. They are armed, financed and supported by big western powers.”
“I do not often thank the Government but I will do so for facilitating this important debate on the horror that is being inflicted on the people of Sudan. The genocidal horror they are enduring at the moment has led to at least 150,000 people being killed, more than 21 million people, which is 45% of the population, facing hunger and famine, 12 million people being forcibly displaced, and the horrific scenes involving the RSF in the siege of El Fasher, to name some of the atrocities that have taken place. This is complex and, like Deputy Coppinger, I remember speaking about it. At that time, I had been briefed but, unfortunately, I did not have a chance to talk to Sudanese people before this debate. I had been briefed by people from Sudan before the previous debate, which was at the time of the revolution by the people of Sudan.”
“The continued extension of political cover, arms, economic support and favoured trade status has actually emboldened Israel to commit the genocidal crimes of the past two years. I have not got time to go into the evidence, but if one looks at the statements of ministers, members of the military and the Israeli Knesset, what one sees again and again are clear statements of genocidal intent. Netanyahu has publicly declared his intention to erase Palestine from the map and that history goes back for the entire history of the State of Israel. Just as we did with apartheid South Africa, the time for treating Israel as a normal state has to an end. It must be isolated from the international community as we did with apartheid South Africa.”
“The truth, of course, is something very different. The truth is: Israel is not now or never has been a normal state. The State of Israel is a death machine directed at the Palestinians and whose sole purpose is the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from their lands. This has been the case since 1948 and the genocidal slaughter we have witnessed over the past two years is simply the outworking of that horrific reality. It is the failure of the world - the international community, including our own Government, the EU and other governments - to acknowledge the genocidal nature of the Israeli regime and the fact that it is based on apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to prevent and address the commission of the international crimes of genocide and apartheid by the State of Israel, by providing for the establishment of economic sanctions. This Bill, in line with our moral and legal obligations under the Genocide Convention, international conventions on apartheid and international law, calls for a complete boycott of all economic relations with the State of Israel for the crimes of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, genocide and the ongoing persecution and oppression of the Palestinian people. There is a narrative that Israel's only crimes are illegal settlements on the West Bank or that the genocidal slaughter we have seen over the past two years in Gaza is simply the outworking of the extremism of Netanyahu and a few individual ministers.”
“David and Nicole have a five-year-old son with autism, and an older son. They live in a maisonette, which is 29 sq. m. It is absolutely tiny and rank with damp. Because of his autism, their son has serious sensory processing issues. He is a flight risk. I know these flats well. They have very dangerous concrete steps, which are a serious risk to him. Occupational therapists, medical professionals and people in school have said that he has to be got out of there as he cannot develop or do his occupational therapy if he is living in these conditions. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council says autism is too prevalent in the community to give it medical priority. That is outrageous. The prevalence of a condition is not a reason to say it is not a priority if the child is in danger.”
“There was a protest this weekend where people declared their support for Palestine Action. It should not be a chargeable offence and the Taoiseach should speak out against it.”
“Last week, I raised with the Taoiseach - I want to do so again because it is important - the fact that, as part of a wider attack by the British Government on those standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine and against Israel's genocide in Gaza, people in the North are being arrested and charged, including one of our councillors, Councillor Shaun Harkin in Derry, for indicating supporting support for Palestine Action. The designation by the Starmer Government of Palestine Action as a terrorist group is outrageous when what the group has been trying to do is stop Israeli terrorism and genocide by trying to disrupt the ability of the British state and Israeli companies to collaborate with Israel in the genocidal assault on the people of Palestine. It is happening in the North. Arrests are taking place.”
“The problem is that there is no independent adjudication of these things and I have raised again and again that the workers have no defence against blacklisting in the film industry, even though the Irish State funds the film industry. What does the Department of arts do when you say this to it? It goes to the people against whom the allegations are made to ask whether the allegations are true. The people who get the money from the Department say of course they are not true and they are totally innocent. What else would they say? This has to stop.”
“Lastly, on foot of comments from Deputy O'Reilly about workers, it is connected to protected disclosures but it is more generally about workers facing problems in particular industries and the punishments they suffer. I have raised again and again the fact that film workers working in the film industry in this country have been blacklisted out of the industry - people who have worked for 20, 30 and 40 years are gone from the industry and left with nothing - because they raised questions about the failure to implement things like the fixed-term workers' legislation. I know for a fact, because I have met some of them, that the line producers who employ the people have said they will never employ them again based on their view of it. They are the people who have the power.”
“A member of the Defence Forces says military management are penalising them for making a protected disclosure over the behaviour of military management. The Minister then goes to military management to ask whether this true and military management says of course it is not true. What else would it say? That is an answer from the Minister. It is absolutely outrageous. The Minister accepts that and it is either incredible incompetence or, even worse, the Minister is in on it and in on the attempt to suppress the protected disclosure with military management.”
“This is to do with members of the Defence Forces who came to me because they alleged they were working with dangerous chemicals that affected their health and even their ability to have children. They allege that a presentation you get when you finish in the Defence Forces was denied to them because they had made a protected disclosure. When I put in a parliamentary question about this to the Minister, this was the answer I got: I would like to thank the Deputy for his question. I am not at liberty to discuss or comment on any protected disclosure; however, I am assured by Military Management that no member of the Defence Forces is denied anything on foot of having made a protected disclosure. That is unbelievable.”
“She detailed the lengths she went to for the past 20 years to change her life and the Traveller barriers she faced of addiction and having her own trauma from the care system. This woman had been through the care system and subsequently worked in it. She said she did what she was supposed to do as a mandated person and reported wrong doing. She finished therapy and is now out of work for five months. I will not go on but the Minister of State understands the consequences of it. She raised very serious concerns that the people who are investigating the protected disclosure - a very serious protected disclosure - have a conflict of interest. Here is another example.”
“She made a protected disclosure and was concerned that the person in Tusla who was looking at the protected disclosure was also somebody who was in regular contact with the institution and, therefore, was not independent. I am not in a position to judge the rights and wrongs of this but you must look at the human consequences of it. She sent an email that said she was sorry she was only getting back to me now as she was dealing with some health issues due to the stress of the protected disclosure. She told me Tusla was supposed to give her an outcome of the protected disclosure but never did. She asked if I could please bring the letter to the Minister's attention. She said she had lost everything due to the protected disclosure while the people who have done wrong get to prosper.”
“I thank Independent Ireland for bringing this motion forward, which we are happy to support. I got an email back in 2024, and I have been out sick for a few months so I am not sure to where this has developed, but it gives an indication of the despair and the consequences for those who make protected disclosures. It is a case I raised and about which I submitted parliamentary questions. This is an email to me after we followed up an issue for her. By the way, she was working in a children's residential institution with some of the most vulnerable children possible. She alleged very serious allegations against the CEO and staff of that residential institution with vulnerable children.”
“Itt is going to be much more general and it is happening under HAP. A lot of people are getting caught with this and we are going to see more and more of it, so there is going to have to be a plan because people will end up homeless from cost-rental and from HAP tenancies. That is what going to happen. The Minister of State has got to address it and the councils have to address it.”
“I appreciate that and I will send the Minister of State Sylvia's details, but, as he can see, there is a more general problem. There is somebody who works in here - I will not give away their identity- who is on a very modest income. They got cost-rental accommodation at €1,200, but their son was living with them who was earning. The son has moved out but they are stuck with a €1,200 rent but with half the income. What are they supposed to do? They have not got the money to pay for their son's rent as well, but cost rental does not work the same way as social housing where the rent is adjusted. Given the Government's new housing plan is proposing essentially to do away with differential rents and social housing in favour of cost rental, this is going to cause a big problem.”
“Therefore, rent arrears are building up and fairly soon she will be threatened with homelessness unless something is done. By the way, the same thing is happening with cost rental for tenants where people move out and they are faced with the same rent and have less income. What are they supposed to do?”