Wicklow TD's played their part in the escalation of home repossessions by the banks-Brady

Wicklow Sinn Féin general election candidate councillor John Brady has slammed Wicklow’s 5 TDs for playing their part in facilitating the repossession by the banks of 41 homes in Wicklow up to the end of September, there are a further 131 Circuit Court orders sought on primary homes across Wicklow. This is nearly a 300% increase on the 2014 figure of 14.

Speaking after the latest figures were released councillor Brady said “Thousands of families are living in fear of losing their home. Hard working families who bought average family homes are being dragged through the courts by their lenders. These are the very same banks that were bailed out by the taxpayer. The average level of mortgage distress nationally measured by mortgage accounts in arrears of 90 days or more is 11.2%. In Wicklow its estimated there are over 11,500 mortgages in arrears and slightly ahead of the nationally average. This means one mortgage in six in Wicklow is in arrears.”

“Last year 7,100 families had court proceedings lodged against them. Over the past nine months banks have lodged 4,500 eviction proceedings with the courts. Every month banks are lodging hundreds of fresh court actions against families in mortgage distress. In Wicklow there have been 131 Circuit Court orders sought by the banks on primary homes between January and September this year.”

The Wicklow councillor sharply criticised all 5 Wicklow TD’s saying “In 2013 all 5 Wicklow TDs, including opposition TD Stephen Donnelly, passed the Land and Conveyancing Act. This act was to make it easier for the banks to repossess the family home and since then there has been a tenfold increase in court actions each month. There have been 1088 in the first nine months of this year compared with 644 during the same period in 2014 and 240 during the same period in 2013. The pattern is clear.”

Cllr Brady concluded ““The Irish people bailed out the banks to the tune of €64billion, Wicklow’s 5 TDs gave the same banks the effective go-ahead to evict families from their homes and that’s exactly what we are seeing now. The playing field between banks and homeowners needs to be levelled by making the repossession of the Family Home a less attractive option for banks. The government also need to stand up to the banks and insist that they provide families with sustainable solutions to mortgage distress.”

Wicklow County Council to suffer loss of €362,276 due to revaluation of utilities – Cllr John Brady

Sinn Féin County Councillor John Brady has hit out at the Government for allowing a substantial hit to the budgets of local authorities, due to the significant downward valuation of utilities, including many private and profitable companies. This has had the effect of reducing the contribution by companies such as Vodafone, Meteor, 3Ireland, BT Ireland, Eircom and ESB to the tune of €21m.

This means a loss of €362,276 for Wicklow County Council.

Councillor Brady said;

“This is an extraordinary situation, that the valuations office, when many small businesses are struggling, would decide to gift a massive cut in rates, to some of the largest utilities and companies. I understand the cuts vary between 20-40%, which is enormous.

“This means a loss of €362,276 for Wicklow County Council.

“This could have been used to put into services, in terms of Housing, Business supports, Tourism, funding.

“The overall tourism budget in Wicklow is €330,442 so the loss is €32,000 more than that allocation.

“Some of these companies are immensely profitable. Vodafone has a pre tax profit of €100m last year. I believe that many small business owners, who are used to seeing upwards valuations, would be deeply frustrated to see much larger businesses getting such a generous rates cut.

“This Government, as with the last, raided Local Government time and time again, which meant housing, roads, footpaths, and so on, all suffered. Now, the valuations office is coming back for more, despite how profitable these companies are.”

“The Minister and the valuation office need to make clear on what basis this was given.”

“It furthermore hugely underlines the need to reform totally the archaic, 19th Century Rating system. Rates should take more account of Profit, not square footage.”

Wicklow Municipal Districts are toothless and lack sufficient staff to carry out their functions-Brady

Wicklow Sinn Fein County Councillor John Brady has labelled the new Municipal Districts as toothless and void of the necessary staff to carry out their functions. He has called for a full review of the functions of the Municipal Districts and staffing levels in Wicklow.

Speaking after a Bray Municipal District meeting where a motion was passed calling on the Chief Executive of Wicklow County Council to address the chronic staff shortages, Councillor Brady said “It’s over a year now since the Town Councils were abolished and Municipal Districts created in their place. It’s clear now that the Municipal Districts are completely toothless and they lack the staff to even carry out the most basic of functions. The Municipal Districts have turned into talking shops with little or no powers and no funds.”

“People are paying large amounts of Property Tax and indeed next year they be paying 15% more after Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and some Independents voted to increase it. Unfortunately the council is financially worse off and has substantially fewer staff. This has resulted in the Council offices being unable to open to the public on a number of occasions. Bray has no revenue collector, it’s lost its full time litter warden and one traffic warden is trying to do the work of three people.”

Cllr Brady went onto say “Bray Municipal District has retained some housing functions; however we don’t have the staff to do the work. We have a very good Estate Development Officer who is supposed to be working within the local authority estates. Due to a lack of staff he is now collecting rent and manning the public counter in the council offices. At the meeting, I proposed a motion calling on the Chief Executive of Wicklow County Council to allocate additional staff to the Municipal District so it can function properly. I’ve also called for a review at County level, so more powers can be delegated out to the Districts so that decisions can be taken at local level.”

“The introduction of the Family Home Tax was a con job; The Municipal District of Bray has a discretionary allocation of €69,500. The promised additional services promised by the government when introducing the tax can and never will happen. A national review of the new system is underway, this must include the way councils are funded. The Family Home Tax must be abolished and adequate central funding must be provided. More powers need to be delegated to the Municipal Districts to try make them relevant and additional staff appointed to them. ” Ends

Essential Fire Safety work on Oldcourt houses must be completed-Brady

Wicklow Sinn Féin Councillor and General Election candidate John Brady has called on the Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly to ensure that funding to complete the essential fire safety work in the Oldcourt housing estate is provided and fast tracked. Two phases of work in the estate have been completed, this came about after a campaign led by Councillor Brady secured over €1m in funds to carry out the work, however there are still a substantial number of houses in the estate that haven’t had the work carried out.

Speaking at a recent council meeting the Sinn Féin councillor said “Unfortunately, after good progress was made in carrying out essential fire safety works on the fire prone houses in the Oldcourt estate in Bray, that work has unfortunately come to a complete standstill. Two phases of work within the estate have seen a large number of houses refurbished and the serious fire safety issues get addressed. Funding has now run out and there are still a large number of houses that need the critical works carried out. It’s critical given the history of the estate and the damming fire safety audit, that funding is fast tracked so the works on all houses can be completed.”

“The Oldcourt estate was built in the 1970's as a temporary solution to the housing crisis at the time. However the serious problems in the houses started after a botched refurbishment scheme in the estate in the late 1980's. The old flat roof structure was simply built around and the original flat roof was left in the attic space of the refurbished houses. Since the refurbishment there have been 15 serious house fires in the estate which have resulted in the loss of 7 lives. An independent fire safety audit was carried out in 2005. The findings were published in 2007 and this report outlined a substantial number of things that needed to be done in the houses to make them safer.”

Brady went onto say “The work to date in the houses has addressed all of the identified fire safety problems; it also has the added benefit of improving the energy efficiency of the homes. Any attempt to scale back on the extent of the works or to completely withhold funding will not only further endanger lives, it will be rigorously opposed. The recent tragic events in Carrickmines must serve as a reminder of the danger of fire, especially if the accommodation isn’t up to proper standards. Both the Government and the Council are acutely aware of the Fire Safety Report relating to Oldcourt, and they have a duty to the people living in all the houses in the estate that all the houses are brought up to fire safety standard without delay.”

Cllr Brady who is a long time campaigner on the Oldcourt issue concluded “There is another dimension to this, we are in the midst of a housing crisis, and families are lingering on lengthy housing waiting lists for 12 years and more. In Oldcourt the council has 8 boarded up houses that are needed to move families into when the work is been carried out on their home. Therefore, it’s also critical that the funding is fast tracked to complete the scheme not only so they are safer, but so these 8 houses can be permanently allocated to needy families in the area.”

Sinn Fein Councillor John Brady Pleads for People to Assist the Gardaí.

Speaking in response to reports that an improvised devise exploded early this morning in a residential area of Dunlavin county Wicklow; Sinn Fein candidate in the general election Councillor John Brady has pleaded for people with information to come forward to Gardaí as soon as possible:

“The people of Dunlavin are understandably in shock after the events of this morning and the Gardaí are doing a tremendous job trying to get to the bottom of it. However, I would plead to anyone who has information to contact the Gardaí as soon as possible in order to help expedite the investigation. Even if people are unsure if what they suspect is of any importance, I would encourage them to contact the Gardaí immediately if they have not already done so.”

Councillor Brady went on to say that the incident is a terrifying experience for the local people:

“Thankfully it would appear that nobody was injured, however it appears that the device certainly had the capacity cause serious injury or worse. My colleague in the area councillor Gerry O’ Neill spoke to local residents shortly after the news broke; they are stunned that something like this could occur in their quiet little town, the entire experience has been very frightening, and people are at a loss to figure out how and why something like this could visit their doorsteps. Clearly whomever is responsible has no regard for the safety of the local community and needs to apprehended and brought before the courts as soon as possible.”

Irish Government Prolongs its Neglect of Citizens with Disabilities - Brady

Speaking recently in relation to the challenges faced by people living with disabilities, Sinn Fein candidate for Wicklow in the general election Councillor John Brady believes the government’s failure to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) is a black mark on their record.

“Ireland signed up to the CRPD in 2007 but has done little since then to implement it. While over 150 governments world- wide have ratified the convention, Ireland stands embarrassed as our government have failed to make headway over the last eight years. The Fianna Fail and Green coalition followed by this Fine Gael/Labour government have both put the issue of serving citizens with disabilities - as required under the convention - firmly on the back burner. This is evidenced by their failure to provide a ratification deadline signing date which would instill urgency into the ratification process.”

Councillor Brady went on to suggest that this failure could be seen as a deliberate act in order to facilitate their discriminatory austerity agenda:
“This government have spent the last few years cutting supports to people with disabilities including allowances, medical cards and home help services. This has been done despite the aims of the convention the Irish government agreed to abide by. Article one of the convention states:
‘The purpose of the present convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity. Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.’

Councillor Brady continued:

“In other words, governments must refrain from engaging in any actions that might adversely affect the person’s opportunity to live full and equal lives in society. Had the Fianna Fail government ratified the convention before it left office, it is highly unlikely that our current government could have succeeded in implementing cuts with such detrimental consequences without contravening their obligations. As such, we can only assume that both Fine Gael and Labour purposely excluded ratification of the CRPD in order to remove such international legal barriers.”

In conclusion Councillor Brady stated “There is no legal or constitutional reason for the Government not to ratify the CRDP. It is simply a matter of policy and priority. Ratification would preclude the Government from inflicting harsh cuts to services and supports for people with disabilities. It is clear that sticking to an austerity agenda is more important to Fine Gael and Labour than vindicating the rights of people with disabilities.”

Cllr John Brady welcomes Sinn Féin's endorsement of Right2Change policy principles

Sinn Féin's General Election candidate in Wicklow, Cllr John Brady, has welcomed his party's decision to endorse the broad policy platform agreed by Right2Change.

He said;

"The issues impacting the people of Wicklow, if they are to be comprehensively addressed, require the election of as many progressive candidates at the forthcoming general election.

"Sinn Féin wants to see a progressive government in power after the next general election and we want to be part of that administration. We believe that such a change is an absolute necessity in order to defend the interests of ordinary people and to begin the work of repairing the damage caused to our public services. On that basis, Sinn Féin is happy to endorse the broad policy platform agreed by Right2Change.

"This policy platform provides a common space for progressive parties and independents to fight the forthcoming general election. It does not replace the manifesto of any political party but it does represent points of shared agreement. Most importantly, it provides a fantastic opportunity to maximise the number of progressive TDs elected to Dáil. This would obviously increase the chances of a progressive government being formed after the general election.

"Along with the right to water dimension, the Right2Change principles support the right to housing. They stress the importance of decent work with decent pay. They are grounded in an anti-poverty perspective and the demand for equal access to quality healthcare. These should be the pillars of any fair society.

"As our Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald has outlined, Sinn Féin believes that parties and candidates who share this platform and who agree on these principles should, whilst attending to their own election campaigns, equally encourage people to transfer to other like-minded candidates."