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COUNCILS AROUND IRELAND turned down around 4,000 social housing units offered to them by Nama, the agency has said.
Speaking before the the Dáil’s Public Account’s Committee yesterday, its chief executive Brendan McDonagh outlined what it had done to help deal with the housing crisis.
He stated that since 2011, 6,565 social properties have been offered to 31 local authorities around the country, but that only 2,521 of these were accepted, with the council turning down 4,044.
Included in this was 2,030 properties offered to the four Dublin Councils – out of which there was an uptake of 757.
What is Nama doing for residential housing?
The agency said that the local authorities gave a variety of reasons as to why they did not accept the properties.
Nama is currently working to fulfil its commitment to deliver a large number of residential units both in Dublin and around the rest of the country.
In late 2013 the State-owned bad bank said that it would deliver 4,500 units in Dublin by the end of 2016.
To date 1,900 units have been completed and planning permission has been secured for 6,350 more, 1,600 of which are under construction.
In his statement to the committee yesterday, Brendan McDonagh, said, “With a total of 40 sites now active, we are confident that the end-2016 target will be achieved.”
The agency projects that it will seek planning permission for an estimated additional 7,200 units by the middle of next year.
Response
A number of politicians spoke out against the local authorities for not accepting all of the housing available to them.
In a statement, Fine Gael TD for Limerick and member of the Public Account’s Committee Patrick O’Donovan, said, “If local authorities are refusing to accept such a large proportion of properties offered to them, it will be very difficult to make progress.”
Labour TD for Dublin Central, and also a member of the committee, Joe Costello, said, “These were houses and apartments that were partially or fully built.
Now they have been sold to the private sector and are gone forever. 4,500 units could have solved the homeless crisis with something to spare. In fact, they could have prevented the homeless crisis because they were sold since 2011.
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Good stuff. I’m a bit of a freak when it comes to germs.
I can’t touch the door handles in public toilets without a tissue in my hand. Saw too many lads zip it up and ignore the sink. Arm rests and table trays on airplanes the same them things are turned around so many times a day without cleaning.
@Milk The Drones: Urine is sterile. There are probably more germs on the tissue you are using.
@CrabaRev: absolutely true, unless you have a UTI your urine is totally sterile.
@CrabaRev:
I’ll do it my way and take my chances thanks.
@CrabaRev: Still wouldn`t use it for mouthwash though in fairness
@Pixie McMullen:
Also TV remotes in hotel rooms are another thing I can’t deal with. Think of all the previous digits that mauled it and what they were up to before you checked in. Brutal.
@Milk The Drones: I can totally understand your OCD and overthinking of things mate, but fact is, there are germs absolutely everywhere, everything you touch in the outside world.
But what might help you, would be to carry a mini pack of disinfectant/surgical wipes for when it gets too much – at least you might have some control over your fears, best of luck with it.
While there’s no question that cleanliness is important in places like hospitals and kitchens, I don’t think anyone would be comfortable eating food prepared in a dirty kitchen or being operated upon in a dirty, smelly operating theatre.
So if Ellie Cunnenn can identify surfaces that can resist the growth of bacteria and those that stay clean longest, maybe it’ll be possible to come up with a combination of the two, a surface that’ll both resist bacteria and stay clean as long as possible. And fair play to her, she deserves recognition for this.
However there have been studies in Ireland and other countries that have illustrated that we also need a limited exposure to a small amount of, an Irishism, what our grannies may have called clean dirt. These studies have revealed that children who grow up on dairy farms are less likely to develop allergies such as asthma or hay fever, this is because children who grow up on farms breathe air containing bacterial components which reduces the immune systems reaction to allergens.
The studies identified the presence of a protein (A20) which affects these cells and the way in which they react to an allergen.
According to the research, the A20 protein does not affect the immune system, but it instead affects the structural cells that make up the lining of the lung. To validate the experiment, the group of scientists induced dust mite allergies in mice and found that those were exposed to dust from a dairy farm in early life were immune. The next step of the experiment was to knock out the action of the A20 protein in the lungs of the mice and when this occurred the mice were no longer protected from allergic reactions.
And so, they carried out a further study on 2,000 children who grew up on farms.
They found that those who suffered from allergies had a gene mutation which affected the A20 protein, causing it to malfunction and suffer from allergies such as hay fever and asthma.
It goes against everything we’ve been told to believe, but when our young immune system is developing it needs exposure to a certain amount of “clean dirt”. If we’re raised in a sterile environment, which is increasingly happening, our developing immune systems have no opportunity to recognise it and react to it.
somebody is trying to do something WoW great story??
@Leitrim303: Congrats on your first smart phone for Christmas….long may it last
Anti-bacterial surface, might be worth adding this to your list of test surfaces Ellie
Anti-bacterial surface, might be worth adding this to your list of test surfaces Ellie
The surface chemistry and roughness are probably the two most important factors here. Smoother surfaces have less anchor points for biofilms to develop, so granite isn’t a surprise as it’s usually polished when produced. The cleaning history is also important as any infection control staff will tell you.
There are plenty of studies out there and also a European Action group called AMICI that Ireland is part of.
Happy to help if author(s) want to PM
have your say