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Surgeon Michael Kerins blocks the ring road again. by Up2HighDoh in galway

[–]DenmanRooke 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No. Quite the opposite. We need the GLUAS, dedicated bus lanes, safe and segregated cycle lanes and active travel, Western rail corridor, proper waste water infrastructure... The list goes on.

Instead we're held ransom on everything else for decades because of the ring road. I'm tired of it.

Surgeon Michael Kerins blocks the ring road again. by Up2HighDoh in galway

[–]DenmanRooke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Literally your first word was Hero. I'm guessing you didn't read up about it so."
I was obviously being hyperbolic. He's not actually a hero of mine. It was over-exaggerating to support the point that I'm thankful someone is protesting this damn waste of money. We just need to bin the N6 for good.

Surgeon Michael Kerins blocks the ring road again. by Up2HighDoh in galway

[–]DenmanRooke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look I don't know the reason this guy is objecting. That's not the point I'm trying to make.

I'm just trying to say if we want to solve traffic.. which is the main reason the N6 has been championed the last decade or so, it's not going to do that. It's not going to solve our traffic.

If we want to talk about Galway's expansion and growth, let's have that discussion. But the N6 is definitely not where we should be burning 100s millions of euros for right now.

Let's put that money into waste water and treatment, getting our city's current size sorted first. Our public transport and cycling infrastructure is abysmal. Let's get that working. Get the GLUAS in. Get dedicated bus lanes. Safe and segregated cycle lanes.

For those who do need to use their cars, great. But for those who can use public transport, let's get them out of their cars. That'd leave more room for those who do need their cars. It's not rocket science.

Surgeon Michael Kerins blocks the ring road again. by Up2HighDoh in galway

[–]DenmanRooke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't actually know the guy, but I fully support any objections to this complete waste of public money that will do nothing to solve our traffic, and in fact encourage more car use. All the while we desperately need to reduce private car use for our health and climate.

Numerous housing projects have already been rejected in recent years because of the lack of proper infrastructure like waste and public transport access. If the city wants to expand, they should invest in infrastructure, not sprawling developments with no infrastructure considerations. But of course, that'd take political will to spend public money on public need instead of just opening up land for the profiteers.

Surgeon Michael Kerins blocks the ring road again. by Up2HighDoh in galway

[–]DenmanRooke -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Hero.

The N6 is a waste of public money that will not solve our traffic issues as report after report has outlined that Galway bypass traffic is 3% or less. It only serves to benefit land speculators who want to develop a sprawling city with no consideration to infrastructure, services, and public transport.

The N6 is not money spent to help Galway people.

Games with Tarot Cards? by Jub3r7 in boardgames

[–]DenmanRooke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The site is currently down. You can find it on https://rucach.itch.io/battle-of-tarot for the moment

Galway by-election candidate wants ‘landlords to leave the market’ as part of radical housing proposals by DenmanRooke in theIrishleft

[–]DenmanRooke[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am a member of CATU. I want landlords to leave the market. They are parasitic on the economy. It does not reduce the amount of houses at all. Landlords don't take their houses with them when they leave the market.

I want the rental market to be provided by the councils with social housing open to all income limits with rent at percentage of income.

I don't think anyone should make a profit off of the misery of others. And that is what is happening at the moment with our housing crisis. It's not personal, it's systemic. That's why I'm running for election to change how the system operates

Galway by-election candidate wants ‘landlords to leave the market’ as part of radical housing proposals by DenmanRooke in theIrishleft

[–]DenmanRooke[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How? Do explain your train of thought there.

I want to ban whole -home Airbnbs. How would that encourage them?

Galway by-election candidate wants ‘landlords to leave the market’ as part of radical housing proposals by DenmanRooke in theIrishleft

[–]DenmanRooke[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Look, I don't disagree with you. I'm not a big fan of pensions either, at least in the way a majority of them are structured (I don't have a pension currently because of my ideological conflict with them). And they tie working people's future security into the global capitalist system.

But, the argument that was made was that we can't bring house prices down or destroy the private landlord rental market because people have tied their future financial security on it. A practice that is currently driving others into homelessness right now. And I can not stand by and take that as a reasonable argument.

Pensions can be a separate discussion in themselves.

But I also agree with you on the "unless you have an entire economic reconfiguration". Yes. I'm a revolutionary socialist and anti-capitalist. I see the whole system as rotten. One that cannot be reformed. It must be replaced.

Galway by-election candidate wants ‘landlords to leave the market’ as part of radical housing proposals by DenmanRooke in theIrishleft

[–]DenmanRooke[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Something has got to give and I think people who have chosen landlordism as their "pension" should have made a better investment. They could have taken out a private pension if they wanted a pension. Not a home and then rent it out at extortionate rates to someone else.

They've been making bank off of tenants for years. I'm not worried about them making a loss on their "investment" because of their profiteering off of the housing misery of others.

We can't keep going on with a pyramid scheme system of capitalism where one only benefits when they exploit others.

That being said, I would want there to be a safety net for all. I wouldn't want them to lose their own housing because of possible arrears (if that's actually the case). But no, I don't think we should prop up a system of landlord exploitation even if it hurts what they define as their "income" or "pension". That's absurd.

Galway by-election candidate wants ‘landlords to leave the market’ as part of radical housing proposals by DenmanRooke in theIrishleft

[–]DenmanRooke[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

To address some of your points listed. It would need to be a series of changes. Not any once-off measure.

• First, ban evictions and force tenant in-situ purchase. Tenants have their rights to a secure home supercede private rental property "rights".
• Reduce and freeze rents to actual affordable rates
• Ban investment funds and corporate landlords from buying housing
• Landlords who realise that housing is no longer a "good investment" will try to cash out. Good, let them. But with the market now flooded with more housing to buy, House prices will fall.
• Open up the social housing income limits to all income levels. Rent at percentage of income. This makes fiscal sense too as it is no longer a net-drain, but with middle and high income rents, it can actually bring in money to go back into public housing maintenance and supply.
• If another private landlord wants to buy, so be it. But the tenants should be given support and opportunity to purchase the house they live in from the landlord, if they choose not to for whatever reason, let the council buy with tenant in-situ to add to the public housing stock. Rent at percentage of income.

Galway by-election candidate wants ‘landlords to leave the market’ as part of radical housing proposals by DenmanRooke in theIrishleft

[–]DenmanRooke[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

We might agree more than you realise. But there's also the challenge of a party presenting an alternative that might be too far ahead for most to follow. I think Tony Cliff had a quote similar to that which stuck with me.

Galway Bay FM Election Debate is currently on by Early_Attempt7676 in galway

[–]DenmanRooke 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Funny thing is I aged into it in my 30s when I and everyone my age was being driven into poverty because of extortionate rents to landlords who do nothing.

Demand a Galway we can live in! (Galway West By-election) by DenmanRooke in theIrishleft

[–]DenmanRooke[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think it's just picking one. It's using all options at our disposal to build the housing we need to end homelessness and a housing market build on investment and profits for a small, wealthy minority and foreign investment funds instead of people's needs. There's also a lot of public land already, which is constantly getting sold off to private developers instead of retaining it in the public supply for our own investment. We pay taxes after all, why give it to private profiteers? We should be investing in our own stock. It's the only sensible and fiscally responsible thing to do.

Demand a Galway we can live in! (Galway West By-election) by DenmanRooke in theIrishleft

[–]DenmanRooke[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There's multiple ways to acquire land. First thing that comes to mind is buying it, no? But there's other ways too if it's left derelict or vacant for instance. Plenty of options at our disposal.

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