I CAME away from a recent special meeting on housing with the distinct impression that it was now up to the ‘little people’ to figure this crisis out.
And what was so special about this meeting of the Home and Social Development Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) on SMART housing? Like the Limerick rapper, God Knows.
Like the befuddled Council members, I was none the wiser by the end of the meeting. You’d have sworn there’d been an outbreak of scabies in County Hall with all the frantic head scratching and nervy fidgeting.
Mayor John Moran held court for a good 45 minutes about Viennese shoebox homes and was as giddy as he outlined his vision. Our mayor does not do short sentences, so as grandiose as his plans can come across – think beach outside Jesuit Church – they are often lacking realism, practicalities, and are best taken with a pinch of skepticism and an arched eyebrow.
Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan was getting antsy with all this talk of Vienna and their long history of putting up Wendy houses overnight.
“The thing about Austria is it has a corporate tax rate that is double Ireland’s. They also have employers paying housing subsidy tax as well. So, where are we getting the money for this?” she asked.
Good question, councillor.
The Mayor reckoned it would be just fan-dabby-dozy if Simon Harris would wave his magic wand and conjure up the money to allow Limerick City and How’s Your Father construct SMART (modular) homes. A case of ‘I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today’.
There was also grand talk of the Government acknowledging “that Limerick can be different and can set up its own municipal housing agency, which will borrow money in the open market”.
Some councillors, who had already tuned out at this stage, were more concerned that the full complement of 40 councillors weren’t invited to this privileged audience with the Mayor.
Addressing the lack of a full deck of councillors, Cllr Kiely hit out: “We first heard about SMART housing in an SPC, and we’re now back at an SPC, and the people who put their name on the ballot paper are again the last to know.”
There you have it. As a wise wee Scotsman once said: “This means nothing to me. Oh, Vienna!”
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme