Editorial: Prefabs only a temporary solution
it emerged this week that Dublin City Council has been hit with an €18m shortfall this year in funds to tackle the city’s homelessness problem.
Such a shortfall has led the Council to consider a radical plan to find housing for families – the use of prefabricated homes.
This plan has moved closer to fruition this week with the establishment of a test site at a property on the North Strand.
The site is not a permanent facility and will not house anyone, but it will be used to assess the most suitable type of prefab homes to be deployed at other sites around the city.
Prefab homes should not be seen as a permanent solution as it risks a ‘ghettoisation’ of homeless people.
The solution is simple. The State must provide more money.
Why is USC still in place?
THE Government must be feeling giddy this week.
The ongoing Greek crisis has seen Enda Kenny’s administration cast as the ‘good boys’ of Europe’s austerity class, while Brian Cowen’s evidence to the banking inquiry reminded voters of the bad old days of Fianna Fail government.
Yesterday, the summer even returned.
It’s all clearly gone to Minister Michael Noonan’s head. The Finance Minister’s committed to cutting the unpopular Universal Social Charge by “at least one per cent” in the upcoming Budget.
Given that USC is charged on all workers’ paychecks it’s a case of ‘there’s something for everyone in the audience’.
But why hasn’t USC been abolished outright? After all, wasn’t it an emergency measure, brought in during the crash?