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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

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Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Investors threaten to Call in Police After Collapse of Alastair Campbell?s Son?s Football Betting Sy... Sun Dec 29, 2024 17:00 | Toby Young
A betting syndicate run by Rory Campbell, son of Alastair and Fiona Millar, has collapsed, with investors, including Rory's parents, losing more than ?5 million. The investors are threatening to go to the police.
The post Investors threaten to Call in Police After Collapse of Alastair Campbell?s Son?s Football Betting Syndicate appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Don?t Compare AfD Leader to Hitler, Says Elon Musk Sun Dec 29, 2024 15:00 | Toby Young
Elon Musk has written an op ed for the newspaper Welt am Sonntag urging Germans to vote for the AfD in the upcoming elections. The opinion page editor has resigned in protest.
The post Don?t Compare AfD Leader to Hitler, Says Elon Musk appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link MAGA Civil War: Will Trump Ditch Old Coalition to Appease Musk? Sun Dec 29, 2024 13:00 | Toby Young
Civil war has erupted in Trump's camp, with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy arguing for more visas for highly skilled migrants in spite of Trump campaigning on an anti-immigration platform.
The post MAGA Civil War: Will Trump Ditch Old Coalition to Appease Musk? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Feed-In Tariff Scheme Costs Taxpayers ?1.86 Billion As Solar Power Declines and Payments Soar Sun Dec 29, 2024 11:00 | David Turver
The Feed-in-Tariff scheme, which pays homeowners for generating solar power, is costing taxpayers a record ?1.86 billion, with payments increasing despite falling generation, reveals David Turver.
The post Feed-In Tariff Scheme Costs Taxpayers ?1.86 Billion As Solar Power Declines and Payments Soar appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Mega-Poll Shows Labour Would Lose Nearly 200 Seats Sun Dec 29, 2024 09:00 | Richard Eldred
A new mega-poll shows Labour set to lose nearly 200 seats, with Reform UK surging and seven cabinet ministers heading for defeat, paving the way for a hung parliament and the end of the two-party system.
The post Mega-Poll Shows Labour Would Lose Nearly 200 Seats appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

offsite link Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en

offsite link How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en

offsite link Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Rent Allowance-More Stealth Cuts?

category national | public consultation / irish social forum | other press author Sunday September 20, 2009 11:08author by Greg T - None (Independent left) Report this post to the editors

Highlighting recent changes to the rent supplement scheme as well as other disturbing developments.

As if June's cut wasn't enough, ( see: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94053 ) waiting period of up to several months for rent allowance assessment to be completed are going to result from recent changes to the rent supplement scheme . This development may make things next to impossible for any newly unemployed without significant savings, in the meantime more and more people are undoubtedly going to become homeless.
http://www.corkindependent.com/local-news/local-news/co...nces/
(It's nice to see a Labour TD taking action on this issue). As if that isn't worrying enough, just been told by someone I know (coincidentally also in County Cork), that new Rent Allowance claims are not being processed at all in her area. This person was basically informed (informally) that her claim was a waste of time and that due to staff shortages new applications will not get seen to. Sounds suspiciously like yet another stealth on the sly cut. Meanwhile the NAMA plans to bailout the rich continue, gombeen politics as usual. If anyone else knows similar stories they need to be highlighted immediately. Affected people need to kick up a fuss or they will be (conveniently) forgotten.

Related Link: http://www.corkindependent.com/local-news/local-news/concern-about-rent-allowances/
author by shoegirlpublication date Mon Sep 21, 2009 17:35author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Isn't the whole point of rent allowance so that people in EXISTING rented accomodation are subsidised, not so that people who are currently receiving a social welfare payment can choose to change their existing accomodation at a whim?

That said, the changes are harsh on anybody who otherwise would be facing the scenario of having no roof under their head - for example if their landlord is selling up or if the family home is no longer a safe place for them.

Forcing low income households into the market sector should never have been a solution in the first place - accomodation should have been made available via social housing, not via giving guaranteed profits to market landlords at obscene overpriced rates and pushing up demand artificially for private rented property through engineering artificial shortages in social housing through non-provision. (But then spending billions on private sector rents instead? Doesn't even make financial sense if you take into account that the cost of housing rent subsidised households over the last 10 years has probably already far exceeded the cost of actually providing them with permanent council or housing association homes?)

The current policy of locking in this form of "non-provision" by long term leasing from private landlords is doing nothing more than subsidizing the worst kind of profiteering landlords.

 
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