Hearne: Social Democrats providing an alternative option to people feeling abandoned by government parties
“WE don’t have to vote for the same Tweedledum and Tweedledee again,” is the message being heard on the streets by Social Democrats candidate Rory Hearne ahead of June’s European elections.
The Maynooth University lecturer in social policy, and author of the best selling book on the housing crisis “Gaffs”, will stand for the MidlandsNorth West seat.
To say that the Social Democrats have a mass presence in Sligo would be akin to saying that Sligo Rovers are going to win the Champions League but Hearne is not standing just to make up the numbers while Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil carve up the seats with Sinn Féin hoovering up the crumbs. He’s in it to win it – and voters who are giving him feedback are indicating they’re at the very least, considering an alternative.
“There’s a huge number of people who are really looking for an alternative from the government and the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil TD’s,” he said.
“Fianna Fáil have been described as the party of developers and Fine Gael the party of vulture funds and there is a real failure from both to realise what they have done and how they’ve abandoned so many people.
“I will go to Sligo not only to campaign but to talk to people and listen to them. I think that when people engage with what I’m saying and listen to it, it connects with them. That’s the feedback I’ve been getting already.
“And they’re going, ‘OK – there is another way and we don’t have to vote for the same Tweedledum and Tweedledee again and we have an alternative in the Social Democrats’.
“So I don’t see Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil having this tied up at all. Sinn Féin have put themselves out as an alternative as well but we can look at some recent decisions around their approach to the immigration question for example as well as the recent vote in the European Parliament around the Nature Restoration Bill with their MEP for Midlands-North West (Chris MacManus) voting against that. I would have voted for that Bill had I been an MEP.
“What the Social Democrats and what I’m standing on is very clear – support for public services, housing, the need for climate measures and that we want Ireland to be a welcoming and inclusive country.
“That distinguishes me from the other parties and candidates.”
But what led him to put his name in the hat in the first place?
He added: “Over the last few months I had been thinking about the possibility of running because a lot of people who were affected by the housing crisis had contacted me asking if I would run.
“They were saying that they needed voices to stand up for this generation who were locked out. So I was thinking about it before I then spoke to the Social Democrats. They were very interested and very supportive.
“The policies and values I’ve always promoted have been ones of, what you would broadly call, social democracy which would be the idea that a country at its core needs to guarantee to its people key public services.
“Housing being one of them, health the other, education and employment support – all at the heart of this society and economy.”
Given Hearne has long campaigned on the issue of affordable housing, it is no surprise that it’s high on his list.
He continued: “The Social Democrats’ policy on housing drew me in more than the other parties. Their housing spokesman, Cian O’Callaghan, has been really excellent on this issue and he’s someone I’ve known a long time.
“I worked with him on the ‘Raise The Roof ’ campaign, on campaigns on the eviction ban, the vulture funds and I’ve been very impressed by him and the party’s housing policy.
“I was delighted to see at their conference recently that they passed a motion to support the setting up of a National Building Agency. They’re also very supportive of the right to housing, making housing a human right and getting government to deliver back housing properly and supporting tenant’s rights.”
One only has to look to an hour’s drive away to the North of Ireland and those counties currently within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.
Examples of rent levels in Fermanagh and Tyrone show that three-bedroomed semi-detached properties outside the main centres of Enniskillen and Omagh can be leased at around €650 per month.
A quick glance at the property rental websites with regard to Co Sligo show smaller one-bedroomed apartments going for more than €1100 per month.
With rents for private housing pricing many low income families away, the clamour for social housing is growing at a rapid rate but demand is outstripping supply – and then some.
“The housing crisis has been an absolute social disaster,” states Rory. “The thing about disasters is that we think of them as events that just happen.
“But the problem with the housing crisis is that it was manufactured as a result from policies. This is the most frustrating thing – rents have risen year after year.
“With Sligo, I’ve been contacted by people from the county who are either facing eviction or have been evicted and can’t find anywhere to rent.
“I was looking at figures around Sligo and they are really staggering in terms of rents that are being charged there. The lifting of the eviction ban meant people could be evicted and they can’t find anywhere to rent.
“The average rent in Sligo is €1124. How does anybody afford that? With the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) support, the highest amount of money you will get in Sligo is €650 for a family.
“So how are you supposed to pay rent? We know that there are so many people on low average incomes who need HAP – as HAP is the main type of social housing provided – yet you have an almost €500 gap between the monthly HAP limit and what is the actual rent in Sligo.
“People are paying this gap to top up what HAP doesn’t cover to try and keep a roof over their heads. But that means sacrificing basic things like food for families and children.
“This is a social crisis that I genuinely believe has not been taken seriously by government and that’s why I’m putting it central to the European Elections. People ask me why I’m doing that and I say that we have to highlight this. The European Union have been increasingly having a role in housing from setting the interest rates that have an effect on mortgages to rules on AirBnB – which itself is a massive issue in Sligo as the amount of properties available there in comparison to housing for residents is a real problem.
“The EU also has a role in fiscal rules which decide how much governments and spend or not. That’s not to say that the EU is holding us back from solving our housing crisis, but they could support us more.
“I also want to use my position as MEP – if elected – to pressure them and keep housing central to the European question and put pressure on the Irish government around it.”
So what would Rory do when he reaches Brussels should he be elected? After all, what power could one man from an Irish party outwith the big three yield in the European Parliament?
“That’s a good question,” he says. “I would go over, if elected, and be part of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) bloc which is the big centre-left bloc.
“But what’s interesting, we’re increasingly seeing in this parliament and of people who are standing for election across Europe, they are putting housing central to their campaigns as well because there isn’t just a housing crisis in Ireland, there’s one across Europe – the Netherlands in particular with the issue being central in their recent elections.
“Lots of MEPs – especially those of a centre-left background – want to put housing central to the European issue and see how we can coordinate issues better and how we can put solutions central to the European project as well.”
One disturbing factor in Irish politics of late has been the emergence of the far right. While they’ve not made an impact at the ballot box, a glance at social media shows them stirring up a cesspool of hate and smears – especially towards immigrants and asylum seekers.
Rory said: “I’m really worried about this election and one of the big motivating factors of my running was to get the attention and focus away from the wrong targets – namely immigrants and asylum seekers – and on to the real causes of the lack of housing as well as the lack of services such as GP care, public transport and the cost of living.
“These issues are not caused by immigrants and asylum seekers. They’re caused by policies and – most importantly – the lack of investment by governments that haven’t prioritised rural areas and towns – such as Sligo where in recent years, not one affordable cost rental home or an affordable cost purchase home has been built.
“I think that Ireland – and you can see it across Sligo – is full of people who are welcoming and caring for migrants and asylum seekers and help to organise community events.
“And then we have other people who are trying to whip up hate. Then there’s other people who are just confused and are understandably angry about how they’ve been abandoned.
“But if we’re going to get real in finding solutions, we need to find the real causes and they are what we do with our investment – it’s not about immigrants or asylum seekers.
“They are part of a fabric of our society.”