Cathal O’Connell and Joe Finnerty Introduction This article examines the recent experiences of the owner-occupier sector in Ireland, with reference to historic trends in home-ownership, the impact of the economic crash on the housing system and the consequences that followed, and the current and pending challenges faced by the sector. Given the links between the… Read more »

Bob Jordan Introduction  In December 2014, in a ‘Chairperson’s Statement’ introducing the 2013 Annual Report of Threshold,1 Senator Aideen Hayden, stated: ‘Threshold is calling on the Government to introduce a national strategy on private rented housing as a matter of urgency. This strategy must provide real security for individuals and families who are making their… Read more »

Peter McVerry SJ The Housing Crisis Homelessness is the most visible, and extreme, consequence of a dysfunctional housing system. And the housing system in Ireland today is certainly dysfunctional; indeed, it could be said to be an example of the perfect storm, with all three of the main housing sectors in crisis at the same… Read more »

Consumer law covers most of the products we buy today. We presume that what we buy is regulated by certain minimum standards. Furniture must meet some minimum health and safety requirements. Electrical goods must work, must not be a danger to the consumer, and must last a minimum period. Cars must meet mechanical, electrical, design and other minimum standards. Several laws and regulations govern the manufacture, transport and sale of goods. Most of the time, the goods we purchase ‘work’: the chair does not collapse, the kettle boils, and the car stays on the road. However, if faults are discovered, purchasers can, and do, return to the shop with the defective goods and so it is not unusual for kettles, shoes, and even cars to be exchanged.

Sixty years ago the international community agreed a framework for the protection of refugees, when a diplomatic conference in Geneva adopted the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Today, the protection of those compelled to leave their own state, and seek asylum in another, continues to present formidable challenges. The scale of those challenges, and the perceived inadequacies of the Refugee Convention’s response to them, have led some critics to argue that the Convention is now outdated, unworkable and irrelevant.

The Barriers to Community Building sustainable communities is extremely difficult in Ireland today. In many urban areas, at least, the sense of community has almost disappeared. There are several reasons why this is so: First, increased mobility means that many people expect to move from one community to another and so may have fewer bonds… Read more »

Most homeless people simply want a place they can call home. Some need varying levels of support to enable them to keep a home. But a key to their own front door is the symbol of the desires of homeless people.

If, as predicted, the number of new houses built during 2007 shows a decline on the 2006 figure, this will represent a notable break with the significant upward trend in housing construction that has been such a feature of the past decade. Whereas 26,500 houses and apartments were built in 1995, the number rose to 49,812 in 2000 and to 93,419 in 2006. In other words, housing output in 2006 was more than 250 per cent higher than in 1995.

The findings of the Local Authority Assessments of Social Housing Needs, carried out in March 2005, were released by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in December 2005.

The evaluation of existing plans and services for homeless people currently being undertaken by the independent review of 1 provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress that has been made in recent years in addressing homelessness in Dublin and to highlight the significant challenges that are still ahead if the aim of eliminating homelessness in the capital by 2010 is to be realised.

In spring 2004, Focus Ireland, the voluntary organisation dealing with homelessness, placed a series of poster advertisements around Dublin city. These were designed to look rather like the plaques which are put on buildings to indicate that a noted artist, political figure or other famous person once lived there.

Many readers will have heard of Niall Mellon, the Dublin developer who has taken on the task of providing houses for families in the South African township of Imizamo Yethu. Some years ago,

At the close of the 20th century, a mere five years ago, there was delight and optimism in planning and environmentally informed
circles that Ireland was for the first time ever about to have a hierarchically integrated system of interrelated plans covering the country and operating at every level. Preparation of the National Spatial Strategy was well advanced. The provided a statutory basis for the preparation and implementation of Regional Planning Guidelines. The Act also modernised the\’Development Plan\’ process and established procedures for making and implementing Local Area Plans. This new approach to planning was introduced against the continuing national partnership approach, most recently articulated in .

In April 2004, the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution published its Ninth Progress Report.(1) The Report discusses whether the provisions of the Irish Constitution concerning property rights obstruct social justice and the common good in the area of land and housing, with regard to purchase, planning and infrastructural development. The opening lines of chapter… Read more »

Introduction The recommendations of the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution on the right to private property and its relationship with the requirements of the greater social good, take on particular significance when seen in the context of Ireland’s recent unprecedented demand for housing and infrastructural development, arising from nearly a decade of high levels… Read more »

Introduction One of the most ideologically and economically sensitive elements in any state is the legal and constitutional regime governing the ownership of private property. The regulation, taxation and expropriation of property raise fundamental questions of justice, equity, the right to shelter, the balance between individual rights and the common good. All these matters are… Read more »

After many decades of neglect, the government is proposing a major reform of the law governing landlord-tenant relations in residential premises. The proposals are contained in the Residential Tenancies Bill 2003 (hereafter referred to as ‘the bill’)(i). As is well known in informed circles, but less so to the general public, the Irish tenant’s lack… Read more »