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THE MINISTER OF State for Heritage has said Waterways Ireland will not remove any genuine houseboats from the Grand Canal after he intervened to prevent evictions this week.
The waterways management body has also committed to engagement to find a longterm solution for ‘live-on’ barges on the canal.
Six boat owners had been served evictions notices, and told that their homes were to be removed by crane this week and stored for a month before being sold off if they did not move them.
According to current by-laws, Waterways Ireland does not allow boats to moor on any canals for more than five consecutive days. Residents have been campaigning for an update to these by-laws to cater for the current housing crisis.
Yesterday Junior Minister and Green Party TD Malcolm Noonan contacted barge owners and informed them that these evictions would not happen. He met with Waterways Ireland’s Acting CEO John McDonagh yesterday to discuss a solution.
In a statement, the minister said they discussed the issue of houseboats on the Grand Canal and confirmed that Waterways Ireland will not be removing an “genuine or legitimate houseboats or so-called ‘live-ons’”.
“Assisted by my department, Waterways Ireland will engage now in a collaborative process with all stakeholders around finding a long term, sustainable solution to regularise the use of the canals, recognising the cultural and heritage value of our canal network as living communities of people and ecology,” Noonan said.
“The process with community and sustainability at its heart will seed our future strategy.”
Barge owner Gary Long said residents are “thrilled” to hear they will not be facing eviction.
“The new minister, Malcolm Noonan, seems to have made more progress in one day with Waterways Ireland than any other politician has in five years. We released his statement to the Livaboards Association and it is the first time Livaboard boat owners actually feel they are being heard,” Long said.
They have such a strong community and are so relieved. I am really hopeful for the future now.
He said the minister will be meeting with residents next week to discuss extended mooring permits.
Narrowboat owner Beau Donelly also welcomed the announcement that residents will be allowed to remain.
“In the middle of a housing crisis and a global pandemic, it has been a massive source of stress for us all, so we are thrilled with the new minister’s decisive action. But a plan to protect liveaboards long term is urgently required, not just in Dublin, but across the country.”
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Not to worry everyone, increased rents and increased house prices make for excellent share prices for global REITS and we know that’s all that matters.
@SkepticalHippoEyes: which REITs have performed well lately? You could make a fortune by investing if you are so sure of profits coming their way.
The July stimulus cost €7 billion and we can’t afford to protect tenants from losing their homes. Tax relief for tenants would have cost very little, and made a huge difference to most renters. Where are the priorities of this new government?
@Brendan Barr: where they always are, somewhere else
@Aindriú Purfield: They just shocked they managed to hold on to power
*They’re
Please, Journal, give us an ‘edit’ button, for the love of Jaysis
Elephant in room , the amount of foreigners taking up accommodation here in recent years. This is pricing young Irish off the market.people living at home in late 20s and 30s not conclusive to a healthy lifestyle. Watch populism grow, as birth rates fall.
@Ruairi O Gorman: sounds like you’re ready to join in on some populism yourself.
@Dave Thomas: Maybe so Dave, having a income over the industrial average and paying almost half my my weekly out goings in rent while trying to save for a mortgage has a tendency to do that.
@Ruairi O Gorman: well then blame the government and their housing strategy of keeping supply low and prices high so ivestors can keep profiteering.
@Dave Thomas: You’re missing the point, our economy is creating a lot of jobs due to FDI, this is great but a lot of the jobs are being filled by southern Europeans etc that are young are happy to have a job (unemployment in Spanish youth is over 30%) and happy to pay half their wages in rent.They aren’t saving much because this isn’t home. Most will leave and go home when they have enough for an apartment . All the while the Irish youth are dealing with spiraling rents and home costs created by the mass influx of people, you can’t build fast enough to mitigate this .
@Ruairi O Gorman: Ah the blame the foreigners schtick.
@D’oh: No that’s gaslighting on what i said , People will always go where the grass is greener nobody blames them. Its up to the government to protect the people it elected to serve.
@Ruairi O Gorman: nothing stopping you training to be able to do the jobs they come to do. You may notice how many Irish people went to other countries taking jobs the locals could have filled and living in places they could have lived in. To complain about them coming over here getting high salaries AND PAYING HIGH ICOME TAXES. They also add more again to the economy by paying the high rents as again that is again PAYING HIGH INCOME TAX. This money means we can afford social services and public amenities. If you wanted Ireland to remain in the past with poverty where nobody had anything then we could not entice foreign businesses or skilled labour. Not all boats rise with the tide but a lot more do and getting the balance right is tricky. But one vital thing is do not blame immigrants!!!
@Ruairi O Gorman: land of milk and honey come and get it ,those who can’t afford it you must of being born here.
@Ruairi O Gorman: Lol, maybe it’s something you said in your first sentence.
And yet we can hand new houses to people who have never worked. Generous allowance to furnish it and school meals delivered to the door for their antisocial kids!
@Thomas Sheridan: Yea, and we get to go to work everyday to pay for them. Hurray!!!
@Thomas Sheridan: Any statistics on how often this is the case?
Of course it will and the situation is not the fault nor responsibility of landlords. If you add punitive and more restrictive measures to landlords to force a situation where they take a financial hit for the government failures you will make it all worse. Landlords are leaving the market in droves, I think 6000 a year are being lost. Any other industry with a shortage would be trying to retain supplier not make more leave. That is what current policy is doing. People don’t care about landlords and I get that but if you don’t care about them and complaints the situations gets worse. For those that say the property doesn’t disappear the issue is occupancy drops so less to rent and more looking is the result when a property leaves the rental market.
According to property agents demand is still very high and people are willing to pay 2k for 2 bed apartments. I went for viewing last week 3-bed house 2350 per month few couples came mainly indian people. I asked agent if there is any price reduction on this house he says from 20 houses he has at the moment 16 are gone already so I am not sure if there is any affordability issues.
@artur filip: Property agents saying property is still in high demand. Really? I’m shocked.
As the fella always says, and sure these are the good times. Just wait a year or two.
“As a young person on average income I can’t get a mortgage to buy my own affordable home but it’s ok for me to pay rent and pay some one else’s ….”
“All Irish citizens should be able to afford their own home, on average incomes, in their own country.”
https://www.change.org/p/irish-referendum-on-family-home-special-status
A neighbor of mine lost her job and got another with less hours,she ask the agents for a rent reduction the answer was no she recons they didn’t even ask the landlord…. because the agents would also have to take a reduction.
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