The appointment of an EU housing commissioner will help representatives to enforce tenants rights from a European level, according to the Labour Party.
MEP for Dublin Aodhán Ó Ríordáin told Late Breakfast that housing was his number one priority in EU parliament.
“In terms of housing, look, the State aid rules are what limit the capacity of local authorities here to build,” he said.
“For the first time, we have an [EU] housing commissioner.
"So, when it comes to issues [like], for example, the eviction ban - we don’t have a no fault eviction ban in Ireland, it was done away with.
“In the UK they have just installed one, which means that we could work perhaps on a European level from a consumer protection point of view, that across Europe, if you’re a consumer of a service – which is accommodation – that you have greater protections."
The European Parliament Room (debating chamber) in Brussels. Image: JLBvdWOLF / Alamy. 30 July 2014The current housing commissioner is Dan Jørgensen, a Danish representative of the Social Democrats group, who are aligned with Labour in EU parliament.
Mr Ó Ríordáin said that the EU’s commitment to end homelessness by 2030 will put pressure on the Irish Government to act on the issue.
“Sometimes it’s about the directives that the EU will make to individual member states, but it’s also about the standards that we expect the member states to reach,” he said.
“So, if our homelessness figures are still out of culture with the rest of Europe, then it puts pressure on the individual governments to do better, to do more.”
Security concerns
However, Mr Ó Ríordáin said that concerns around security will likely be prioritised over housing for the forseeable future.
“When Trump comes in, we assume he’s going to make changes with the US approach to Ukraine, which means that, you know, there’s a lot of countries on the Eastern side of Europe who are very nervous,” he said.
“So, my worry is that the next four years, five years, it’s not going to be about housing, it’s not going to be about employment rights, it’s not going to be about gender equality, it’s not going to be about LGBTQ+ rights.
“It’s going to be about security and militarisation and defence and keeping the entire of the European institutions together.”
According to Mr Ó Ríordáin, efforts are currently underway to bring more Northern Irish voices into EU parliament.
Featured image: Split image showing a housing estate (L) and Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (R).
