A Clare Government Senator says huge numbers of people will end up on the margins, if budget measures don’t have an immediate impact.
It comes in the wake of a new first of its kind report, which found that poverty is ‘systemic’ in this county and that there’s a ‘chaotic’ housing system here.
The ‘Towards an Anti-Poverty Strategy for Clare’ report published last week suggests that Clare has serious issues in health, housing, investment and employment.
It’s led to calls for an anti-poverty strategy to be developed for Clare, but one Clare Government TD believes it should pave the way for a national strategy to measure and respond to this issue.
Meelick-based Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe is reassuring however that there will be a huge focus on the squeezed middle in the budget in just over a week’s time, as well as lower income households.
He wants to see taxation measures and policy which would incentive the owners of holiday homes, of which there are over 5,000 here, to bring the property onto the long-term rental market.
Deputy Crowe believes this could help significantly reduce the numbers on the social housing list.
Clare’s Fine Gael Senator has described the findings of the new report as “alarming”.
But Ennistymon’s Martin Conway says there’s a concentration of minds to come up with a package that will protect people lower incomes and take pressure off middle income households.
He’s warning that the measure will have to have an immediate impact though, or more people will be pushed towards the margins.
Listen back to the full interview below:
