GE 24 meet the candidates: Fidelma Bennett (Labour)

Meet the candidates GE 24

I’m a proud Mullingar woman, born and reared in the town. My father, Jimmy Bennett, was a local politician and publican. I have a background in business and teaching, but am probably best known for my work with a local homeless charity supporting women and children. I retired last June, which gives me the time I feel is required to be a successful local representative.

What would your party do to end the housing crisis?

We need to see a far greater role for the state if we are to tackle the housing crisis. The private market has shown itself to be incapable of delivering the homes we so desperately need at the scale and price that most workers and families can pay. We would transform the Land Development Agency into a state construction company to enable the state to have a much stronger hand in the delivery of social, affordable and cost-rental homes. Only the state can underwrite the scale of housing delivery necessary to solve the housing disaster. Labour will also increase protections for renters and improve renters’ rights, including by instituting a ban on no-fault evictions, which is common practice in many other European countries, restrict eviction on the grounds of extended family use to immediate family only, and ensure that minimum standards are met in private rental and social accommodation.

What would your party do to address the economic concerns that many people face due to the rising cost of groceries, insurance, fuel...?

Ireland is a high cost and low pay country. Families and businesses across the country are struggling to keep up with the permanently increased cost of living and higher bills. Labour will protect incomes from inflation by indexing tax bands and social welfare, and we will deliver a real living wage. We will reduce energy costs to the European average, and make home energy upgrades more accessible and affordable, to bring down bills. Labour will also give the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission greater powers to investigate price gouging, end the penalty on instalment payments for things like motor tax, ban automatic annual price increases in service contracts, and impose a levy on the profits of insurance companies if their savings following recent reforms are not passed on to customers.

What would your party do differently to other parties if it formed part of the next government?

The Labour Party believe in the power of the state to deliver the vital public services and infrastructure our country needs. In areas like housing, health, transport, education and climate, we would use the power and enormous resources of the state to deliver a more sustainable, fairer and more secure Ireland. We have seen eight years of wasted prosperity from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil because they have failed to sufficiently invest in public services and infrastructure. Labour will change that by creating a more active state; one that invests and delivers on the needs of its people, now and into the future.

If you were marking the performance of the current government out of 10 what would you give it?

I would give the outgoing government 3/10. I acknowledge that the government have made progress in some areas. They deserve credit, for example, for making public transport more accessible, in rural areas with the increase in Local Links in particular, and more affordable. Steering the country through the truly unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic and mitigating an economic shock was also a tall task. However, it is simply impossible to deem this government a success when we look at the increase in the number of people living in homelessness over the course of the last four years. There are now more than 14,000 people in emergency accommodation in Ireland, including 4,500 children – a 70% increase in overall homelessness and a 76% increase in child homelessness since the government launched their Housing for All policy. That is the shameful legacy of this government.

What one issue would be your top priority if you are elected to the Dáil?

Tackling the housing crisis must be the number one issue for everyone in the next Dáil. It is the single greatest issue holding our country back and affects everyone, directly or indirectly. We’re seeing schools unable to fill teaching posts and vital healthcare workers leaving in their droves because they cannot access secure, affordable housing. The state must take a far greater interventionist role in the delivery of housing, and I will be fighting to ensure that happens if I am elected to the Dáil.

Do smaller parties have any real power to enact change in the Dáil?

Yes, and the Labour Party have shown in past governments that the smaller party in a coalition can be genuine change-makers. From leading the political drive to legalise divorce in the 1990s to ensuring that the Marriage Equality Referendum was included in the Programme for Government more recently, Labour have shown how small parties can be agents of progress and positive change in government. Similarly, smaller parties play a crucial role in opposition in holding the government to account and proposing constructive and effective legislation to make Ireland a better place.