Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
RICHARD BRUTON STOOD in for Enda Kenny at Leaders Questions in the Dáil last Thursday, and faced queries about the government’s housing policy, from Labour leader Brendan Howlin.
During their exchange, the Education Minister claimed that the government had committed to building 47,000 new social housing units.
On Twitter, BRegsBlog brought the claim to our attention, so we checked it out.
(Send your FactCheck requests to factcheck@thejournal.ie, tweet @TJ_FactCheck, or send us a DM).
Claim: The government plans to build 47,000 new social housing units by 2021
What was said:
You can watch a short video below, containing an excerpt of Richard Bruton’s comments, and a breakdown of the basic facts.
But for our purposes, we’re interested in these remarks.
Bruton was responding to a question from Labour leader Brendan Howlin about Daft.ie’s finding that annual rent inflation had reached the highest level since the company began compiling rental reports in 2002.
The Minister for Education replied:
I think the real solution to this is increased supply – that is the real focus of the approach that the government has been taking.
It’s real supply coming from social housing – for the first time we’ve committed to 47,000 new housing builds on social housing, after a period when there was virtually no social housing constructed.
In response to our request for evidence, a spokesperson for Minister Bruton directed FactCheck to the government’s housing plan, Rebuilding Ireland.
That plan contains a commitment that:
As you can see, the government has committed to deliver 47,000 social housing units by 2021, but it has committed to build 55% of those – around 26,000.
They plan to make the remainder available as social housing through various other methods that don’t involve housing construction, or “new builds”, as Bruton put it in the Dáil.
The minister’s subsequent contextualisation – “after a period when there was virtually no social housing constructed” - suggests that while he intended to refer to planned social housing construction, he incorrectly used the figure related to planned social housing delivery.
We rate his claim FALSE. As our verdicts guide explains, this means: “The claim is inaccurate”.
This is the fourth time we’ve fact-checked a claim by Richard Bruton. He now has one verdict of TRUE, two verdicts of FALSE, and one verdict of UNPROVEN.
You can read his FactCheck File here.
TheJournal.ie’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here.
For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
You’re late sharing this clip – it’s been doing the rounds for a while – but it is rather wonderful!
Re the definitions of “sexism” & “misogyny,” I think she is absolutely right to keep the focus on behaviour rather than intention.
No one can know another’s intentions or subjective feelings, but words and actions are clearly visible & verifiable & therefore subject to fair judgment.
It is usually the ugly women that complain about sexism. You would not hear this sort of nonsense from Cheryl Cole or Rihanna – two stunners.
What modelling agency employs you Patrick?
He also called her a witch and a man’s bitch. Don’t get so offended on behalf of men while making another sexist side swipe at women. Sometimes it’s sexism.
I dunno, saw the pictures of rihanna a while ago, she looks bet down , must have been why crhis brown dumpe her
Ok Stephen we can ditch Rihanna as well and use Alessandra Ambrosio instead. Now I hope everybody is happy.
Plenty of overt sexists on the journal, i see
On that point Patrick why are all misogynistic men usually unattractive, bald and sexually frustrated?
sexist – Australian in the same sentence,im shocked and appalled,now tell that Sheila to put some more shrimps on the Barbie
Patrick’s a trolling misogynist, with the mental age of seventeen-year-old. Ignore him.
Correct.
Don’t feed the troll.
Oh dear where is all this going? Could ‘dear’ be termed sexist? It might not have been when I started the sentence but it might be now, or now, or now, or now.
Referring to a female colleague as ‘dear’ can be construed as sexist as well as patronising and overly familiar.
Mad, crazy idea – call the person by their name! Or just say “hello”, don’t add in the dears, birds, dahlings, loves, chicks, stags, foxes, badgers, leave the wildlife references at the door!
Patrick are you skeptical that sexism exists? i refer also to your comment below. If you are, you demonstrate either a worrying lack of ability to disseminate media output and general societal patterns, not to mention contact with articulate, self-aware women- or an equally worrying ignorance that these things exist.
Next time a female friend calls me “hon” I shall stand up to her for her blatant sexism!
I just can’t stand women who accuse us men of misogyny…
She looks a bit like and definitely sounds like an Aussie version of Clare Daly.
Ditch the witch!!
Sure she cant even put one foot in front of the other without falling over. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpUUt2QpacU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
It looks as if she was trying to walk like a man. Those guys should have linked her to prevent her falling. It is well known that men are better walkers than women. We are built to hunt and protect. Women are built to feed and tend. Nature takes care of its own.
It’s an old tradition to make fun of MS Gillard’s English. They also say she mispronounces the word Negotiate…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49zF8m7ys24
shoot the messenger if you dont agree with the misoginist..oops mysogenist…or messagenist.
have your say