SDCC councillors fights government on rent increase row

Opposition party councillors have claimed victory in the row over increased rents on South Dublin County Council.

On Thursday (June 25), opposition party councillors from Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, the Social Democrats and various independents forced the hand of South Dublin County Council management by calling a special meeting.

The meeting was boycotted by government party councillors, as well as Labour and various independents.

Sinn Féin councillors William Carey, Louise Dunne, Daniel Loftus, Róisin Mannion, and Niamh Whelan, Social Democrat councillors Eoin Ó Broin and Justin Sinnott, People Before Profit councillors Kay Keane, Gino Kenny and Jess Spear, and independent councillors Madeleine Johansson and Helen Farrell were the councillors who called for the meeting to be held.

Labour mayor Pamela Kearns was the sole dissenting voice at the meeting.

The various opposition councillors called for the emergency meeting to be held over a proposed rent increase for 20,000 families.

The controversial decision to increase rents was made by council management, and not council members themselves, highlighting the lack of powers afforded to local government members in Ireland.

However, on this occasion, the councillors used the power afforded to them to invoke a Section 140 motion.

Under the Local Government Act of 2001, elected members are able to override certain functions by council chief executives, which, in this context, meant stopping the proposed rent increase.

The legislation specifies that the “manager” of a local council must “carry out any executive function as may be specified by them.”

South Dublin County Council proposed a differential rent scheme following a review; the review recommended that homes rented out by the council be charged up to 25% of their income or more, having previously charged 10%.

Under the council’s proposal, the nominal rental rate will increase from 10% to 12.5%, with an extra 12.5% increase added on if extra people are in the home.

At March’s meeting of South Dublin County Council, Sinn Féin councillor William Carey said it was “unfair” that families were facing a rental increase in the context of the cost of living and housing crisis.

At the time, Carey said that in some cases, families have their income assessed at a rate of 20%, leading to council property rents exceeding market rents, with some council rents exceeding as much as €1600 per month. 

In February, a meeting of the council’s strategic policy committee recommended a review of the differential rent scheme, which calculates how much rent is owed in the context of social housing based on the income of a household.

Carey stated that the council were using it as a pretext to increase rents for council tenants, and that working families are being targeted; he said that the “mistake” needed to be rectified.

As a result of the meeting, the Section 140 motion now compels the Chief Executive of South Dublin County Council to suspend the rent hikes, which were due to kick in by July.

The new rent scheme would have seen a 25% increase in the base rent, with hikes of 53% and 41.5% for some lone parents and Old Age Pensioners respectively.

The motion was proposed by People Before Profit councillor Jess Spear, who explained that Section 140 is rarely invoked by councillors, but she felt that the ends justified the means in this context.

The result of the meeting meant that changes to the rental scheme will be suspended until the council bosses “concludes a consultation,” which must take place before the annual budget is drawn up in October or November.

Spear welcomed the outcome of the meeting, saying the result was thanks to “a major people power campaign.”

The Tallaght Central councillor said that council management attempted to stop the meeting, and claims that they buckled under pressure when Spear threatened to go to the High Court to seek a judicial review if the meeting was not called.

She explained, “we were left with no choice but to take this action council management pressed ahead with plans to increase rents by 25% for many, with some facing rent hikes of over 50%.”

Spear said, “the law is very clear on this – the Chief Executive has to follow council policy, and they have to abide by Section 140 motions.”

“Civil servants, no matter how senior, are not a law unto themselves. The Chief Executive had previously said he would refuse to implement this motion – but now that it has been so overwhelmingly and legally passed, he needs to reconsider.”

She said that “ploughing ahead with a rent hike in violation of the Local Government Act would be reckless, the rent hikes themselves would be of dubious legality and such a decision would expose the council to legal challenge.”

Spear called on the Chief Executive to “pause” the proposed rent hike, and to work with councillors on the issue.

“Tenants have serious concerns about the rent hikes, and the lack of housing maintenance; they deserve to have their voices heard. The reality is the South Dublin County Council already takes in millions more in rents than it spends from its funds on housing maintenance – that’s why councillors said any rent review should be based on fairness, not revenue-raising.”

Fellow People Before Profit councillor Kay Keane said that council management had ignored a motion, proposed by her in February, to review the planned increases to rent.

She claimed that the council ignored her request, which called on council management to consult with tenants, tenants’ unions such as CATU and organisations which deal with poverty and inequality.

“Council management ignored this motion and have not engaged in the consultations required by my motion. Yet the Executive has stated their intention to greatly increase revenue from rent increases for some of the poorest people in South Dublin. Many tenants don’t even know that their rent is about to be increased from July,” Keane said.

“All this has been happening while I’m dealing with tenants who report that windows are falling out of their homes, they have problems with mould, there’s flooding and lack of proper drainage. And now their rent is about to go up by anywhere between 25% and 50% for homes in shocking conditions.”

South Dublin County Council “subverting democracy” councillors say

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the council rebellion was a “major blow” to the government parties.

“This vote is a major blow to Fianna Fáil’s and Fine Gael’s plans to hike rents and undermine the differential rent system,” he asserted, and predicted, “the vote for the Section 140 motion will inspire campaigners and councillors elsewhere to challenge council rent increases across the state.”

Murphy warned council bosses not to “ignore” the motion, saying their actions are a “serious breach of local democracy that must be challenged.”

The Dublin South-West TD said, “Section 140 exists for a reason – as a democratic check on the power of the executive.”

“The Chief Executive may disagree with the policy of the council, but they can’t break it. If they think there’s a legal case against the motion, they are free to go to court and argue that. What they cannot do is set themselves up as judge, jury and executioner,” he remarked.

Sinn Féin councillor Louise Dunne said it was “shameful” that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour councillors did not appear at the meeting.

“It is shameful they are not here to discuss the impact of these rent increases,” she said.

Dunne said that she has served as a member of the council since 2014, and between 2014 and 2019, Sinn Féin were the largest party on the council.

The Tallaght Central councillor said that she was aware of the negotiations involved in running a council when their party is the largest on the council, and questioned if government party councillors were aware of the same responsibilities. 

“At the time, there was pressure from central government for us to look at the rents, and we chose to fight against that; we said we should look at alternative revenue for maintenance programs.”

Dunne said that South Dublin County Council had a €7 million shortfall in funding from central government on maintenance funding, and said that raising rents on ordinary households was not the way to go about it.

“It would do better for government councillors, in this chamber, to lobby to their own government ministers to properly fund councils.”

She said it was “regrettable” that the meeting was called, but she said the government’s action on the issue forced their hand.

“There are a number of us in here who represent areas in Clondalkin and Tallaght where we have the highest rates of lone parents. They are the most disadvantaged in society, and these rent increases are going to impact on the most vulnerable of us in society,” Dunne said.

Colm Ward, Chief Executive of South Dublin County Council, said that he had received legal advice that the motion was “not valid.”

In response, Spear said that “there is no point in electing a council, because council management will just pass whatever they need to do, because central government is telling them what to do.”

Independent councillor Paddy Holohan said, “I do not stand for the rent increases here; I’ve had people ring me – old age pensioners and single parents – petrified that their rents are going to increase.”

The absence of government party and Labour councillors was noted by Holohan.

The Tallaght South councillor noted “we don’t have the numbers in this council and we need the numbers in this council. If we brought this to a vote and we had every single councillor here, we would lose this vote.”

“We should have gotten a better deal,” he said.

The independent councillor stated, “rather than lose in here today, we are going to lose here no matter what.”