Fianna Fáil General Election Candidate for Kildare North Cllr Frank O’Rourke says he is disappointed that the Government has not introduced new measures in the budget to tackle the soaring cost of rent.

Cllr O’Rourke pointed out that the Government has done nothing to achieve rent certainty, despite Minister Alan Kelly committing just days ago to introduce new measures to that effect.

“It’s disappointing to see that the Government still isn’t taking the housing and rental crisis seriously. The latest figures show that rents have increased by 9% around the country and over 13% in Kildare since January alone. People in rented accommodation are struggling to meet persistently rising rents. Rents in Kildare could rise significantly over the next year due to the Fine Gael and Labours failure to introduce rent certainty measures,” said Cllr O’Rourke.

“The explosion in the cost of renting is as a result of the inability of this Government to take any policy action to address the growing housing emergency. The decision not to increase the rent supplement through this budget will simply put more families at risk of becoming homeless. Fianna Fáil has been pushing for an increase in rent supplements to help keep families in their homes, but unfortunately Fine Gael and Labour have decided to leave renters to fend for themselves.

“It makes little sense for the Government to leave the rent supplement unchanged when you consider this will force more people into emergency accommodation, which in turn costs the state significantly and causes untold damage and disruption to families. It’s a nonsensical approach and sums up this Governments haphazard response to the housing emergency.

“The lack of commitment to investing in housing is also extremely alarming. Fine Gael and Labour only delivered 11 new social housing units between 2011 and 2014. This has caused a national housing emergency with over 6,000 people stuck on housing waiting lists in Kildare alone. These people expected the Government to deliver a radical home building programme, but this has not happened.

“Fianna Fáil has unveiled a series of ambitious measures to tackle the housing and rental crisis. Our ‘Generation Rent – A New Deal for Rents’ policy document sets out a clear pathway to assisting families who are experiencing housing difficulties.

“Our Rent Certainty measures would reduce rent rises by restricting rents to area-based rental index both within and between tenancies. Our proposals would encourage long term leases to give tenants greater security in their occupancy and to allow families to consider renting as a longer term option.

“Fianna Fáil’s rent policy also confronts the homeless emergency by raising the rent supplement and keeping it under review. This would ensure new properties are opened up for vulnerable households. Critically it addresses the central long-term issue of supply and complements our national housing roadmap launched last April which outlined our plan to build 150,000 new homes by 2021,” said Cllr O’Rourke.

Local Fianna Fail General Election candidate, Cllr Frank O’Rourke, has called on the Department of Communication and the Minister for Communications, to have broadband access for Newtown and surrounding areas a priority for this Department.

‘In recent days, I have met with many residents in Newtown and surrounding areas in Kildare, who are very concerned about the poor broadband connectivity in the area.’

‘At a time when we are trying to encourage people to work from home, to encourage and nurture small businesses, support exiting businesses and ensure that people have reliable access to broadband, we see that little or no progress has been made to provide a Broadband service for Newtown and surrounding areas. Kildare is home to world class IT companies and it beggars belief that homes and businesses within a couple of miles of these companies have little or no broadband access.’

‘I am currently working with Eircom, on what is known as the next generation  access, in replacing the existing copper based telecommunications network and upgrade it to a fibre optic system in the Maynooth Celbridge area.  Once this is completed, these areas will have access to significantly enhanced telecommunications services.’ Stated Cllr O’Rourke

‘Areas like Newtown needs to be prioritised for getting quality high speed broadband, and I am calling on the Minister to deliver on his promise to deliver this quality high-speed broadband access for areas like Newtown and other areas in Kildare.’ Concluded Cllr O’Rourke who pledged to keep the pressure on the Government to deliver quality broadband access for Newtown and other areas in Kildare.

It is great news for Celbridge and Kildare with 250 New Jobs been delivered by Rye River Brewery. 150 of these will be permanent jobs with another 100 created during construction work. Congrats to Niall, Alan, Tom and all involved with this wonderful announcement. I am delighted to have engaged with Rye River and worked along side them to make sure the jobs stayed in Kildare after they announced that they were moving from Kilcock. They had offers to attract them away from Kildare.

I have known the lads and all involved for months now and it is a privilege for me to have assisted them to make sure that this “Great News” story was a Celbridge one..!! They will be re-locating to Celbridge and continuing to brew, while extending their work force and developing a visitors centre and much more.

This will continue to put Celbridge firmly on the map as a place to visit in Kildare. Their plans once completed and in place will compliment all that is already good in Celbridge and the surrounding area for tourism, jobs and the local economy. I am delighted that through the commitment of Rye River Brewery, Kildare County Council Staff and Management which worked closely with me that this business will continue to exist, develop and grow for the benefit of all in Celbridge, the surrounding area and Kildare.

Well Done Lads and Congrats again…!!!

Fianna Fáil General Election Candidate for Kildare North Cllr Frank O’Rourke has called for more support to be provided to people who are self-employed.

Cllr O’Rourke pointed out that the current tax and social welfare system discriminates against the self-employed, and is discouraging people from setting up their own businesses.

“Self-employed people play an important role in the economy, but this is rarely recognised by the state. They do not have the comfort of being able to rely on automatic social welfare payments kicking in should they become ill or find themselves out of work. It is clear from talking with people from across Kildare that they feel this is grossly unfair,” said Cllr O’Rourke.

“While they receive the personal tax credit of €1,650, they cannot claim the PAYE tax credit – also worth €1,650 per annum. This has a particularly stark impact for lower income families. For example, a self-employed single person on an income of €17,500 pays almost 6 times more tax and PRSI as an employee on the same income.

“There is a strong case for addressing the unfair treatment of self-employed people. This should be done by means of an earned income tax credit as suggested by the Commission on Taxation. The cost of this would be €450m per annum when fully introduced. Fianna Fáil is proposing this be phased in over 3 years with an initial tax credit of €500 for the self-employed in 2016.

“Self-employed people also lack the safety net offered by our social welfare system. They do not have an automatic entitlement to the jobseekers benefit should their business not success. Fianna Fáil is proposing a series of measures to assist self-employed people. If an entrepreneur has made sufficient PRSI contributions they should have an entitlement to jobseekers benefit should they find themselves out of work. Such a measure would bring Ireland in line with our European counterparts.

“On a phased and voluntary basis we proposed to extent a full range of social protection payments including Jobseeker’s Benefit and Illness Benefit to self-employed PRSI contributors as part of our commitment to foster and entrepreneurship culture as well as enhancing social solidarity.

“People who are taking the leap and starting their own business need to be encouraged and supported, not penalised by rigid legislation. Fianna Fáil is committed towards supporting the self-employed and ensuring they are no longer discriminated against.”