Educated at the prestigious fee paying Jesuit run Gonzaga College, Ciaran Cuffe is similar to many of his Green colleagues in having benefited from Ireland’s exclusive Catholic private school system.
Ireland, however, has not benefited from the political careers produced by that system.
In 2010, Ciaran Cuffe was part of a government that agreed a bailout of banks that would saddle the Irish taxpayer with €40 BILLION in debt. The evil decision cost thousands of lives in suicides and illness from stress. It sent tens of thousands more onto the streets as a homeless crisis gripped the country for the best part of a decade, with various referendums on liberal issues used to distract people. Lastly, it made affording a home and raising a family almost unimaginable, leading to birth rates dramatically collapsing by 25% in the last 5 years. We would say that this was an effort by the Green Party to reduce the population of Ireland for the benefit of the environment, but their open borders policies say otherwise. So who knows.
Today, in a letter to the Irish Independent, Ciaran Cuffe (now an MEP instead of a TD) has had the sheer gall to write a letter entitled ‘Church should be spending €95m on affordable housing’.
In it, he writes, ‘proposals for housing on the grounds of the Catholic Archdiocese’s lands at Clonliffe College are welcome — though clearly concerns around amenity space, heritage protection and building heights must be addressed. However, it is crucial the new homes built there tackle Dublin’s housing crisis’.
After decades of telling us that the church is done and they’ve moved on, those in the hot seat during the Celtic Tiger’s demise are here a decade later asking us to clean up their mess.
He continues, ‘At a recent online meeting, Hynes stated they would provide 10pc social and 10pc affordable housing on the site. They stated ‘affordable’ might be as little as 10pc below market rents.
This suggests that as many as 90pc of the new homes will be unaffordable to most Dubliners. If so, it will be a lost opportunity for the city’.
The last part is the punch line, ‘Perhaps the Catholic Church might rethink their intention to spend the €95m from the sale on funding vocations and the ongoing formation of lay people priests within the Dublin diocese, and instead provide support for more housing of those most in need.
Looking ahead, greater transparency from religious institutions on their ownership and sales of lands might better inform future policy choices.’
€41.7 billion Ciaran, imagine what you could have done with that money.
May God forgive the Green Party, because most Irish people will find it hard to do so.
Thankfully the church has been so active on the frontline alleviating the mess that the Greens made, with soup kitchens, homeless shelters and various support services.