James Bannon
A Government TD has caused outrage by claiming that "unwanted Dubliners" cause an increase in crime when resettled to rural areas on Government schemes.
Update:
Bannon also spoke about the issue on the News on One on RTE
'Why should counties like Longford-Westmeath, who already have high waiting lists for social housing, take in Dublin families because their own local authorities have failed to adequately to provide housing for them?'
'Let the Dublin local authorities look after their own and we will look after our own down the country.'
Fine Gael deputy James Bannon's remarks about the Rural Resettlement Scheme, which sees urban families voluntarily resettled to rural areas, have been blasted as "discriminatory, derogatory and insulting".
Mr Bannon, who represents Longford-Westmeath, said that proposals to reintroduce the scheme to relocate homeless Dublin families to the country were "destructive".
"Longford has already experienced social and criminal problems visited upon the county by families exported from their native environment in the city of Dublin to previously quiet towns and villages," he said.
The scheme would "make room for affluent people" in the capital and cause "further deprivation" in rural areas, he argued.
Local authorities in his constituency had social housing lists of their own, he pointed out, though proposals under consideration at the Department of the Environment are thought to be based on local authority houses, which are difficult to rent out.
Lord Mayor Criona Ni Dhalaigh called on Mr Bannon to retract his comments, which she said were ridiculous.
"Where does he get off? What an absolutely discriminatory, derogatory and insulting statement to make," she told the Herald.
"People who move to the country on these schemes do so because they want a better life, not because they've been run out of Dublin," she added.
"Is he trying to say that all homeless people are troublesome? The majority of people who are homeless are decent, hardworking people who have fallen on hard times, through no fault of their own, who would make lovely neighbours and add to their community."
The latest figures show that there are 1,185 children in 556 families in emergency accommodation in the capital.
Homelessness campaigner Brother Kevin Crowley said that there was no reason to object to such a scheme if homeless people in Dublin were happy with an opportunity to move away from the city.
"If the deputy can't show his charity to people in need, he is being very selfish," he said.
Meanwhile, independent TD Tommy Broughan said that his Dail colleague's comments were "very disappointing" and somewhat "pointless".
"We have always had rural resettlement schemes and they have worked well down through the years," he said. "What he's saying is a slur on Dublin people. It's ridiculous."
Via Herald.ie