In response to a parliamentary question.
The one thing that is absolutely certain here is that these new regulations – which have not yet even come into force – will be abandoned and reversed.
“They have a right to be here.”
Housing Minister James Browne: “Approximately 50% of people in emergency accommodation are not Irish citizens. However, they have a right to be here, and they have a right to housing supports.” Question by Ben Scallan.
“A lot of the Western world.”
“I certainly wouldn’t be laying blame”: Housing Minister James Browne says population growth is a big driver of the housing crisis. When Ben Scallan puts it to him that most population growth is due to migration, he says migration is only a “small part” of the housing issue.
What do you do with a drunken sailor?
Housing Minister on why delivering housing is so hard: “Over the last number of years we’ve made a lot of decisions that I think were very good in isolation with really good intentions, but when you add them up, what we’ve actually done is tied ourselves in regulatory knots.”
“Will we have any way to measure the success or failure of the policy?”: Ben Scallan asks Housing Minister James Browne what measurable metric will show if his rental reforms worked:
“If you delay a project long enough, the project will fall.”
Politics is not actually conducted for your benefit.
“Palpable concern.”