Solidarity TD MICK Barry this morning slammed Ulster Bank’s decision to sell more than 5000 distressed Irish home loans to a vulture fund. 

Dublin South West TD Paul Murphy has this morning commented on the case of a family forced to sleep in Tallaght Garda station last night because they had no alternative accommodation. He said that the case highlighted the failure of the government's policy on housing which relies on private landlords and builders to provide social and affordable housing. He said that the occupation by activists of a property in Summerhill should inspire others to become active and build a movement on housing to demand the building of public housing.

Responding this morning to reports that Ryanair had issued 100 pilots and 200 cabin crew with protective notices, Solidarity TD Mick Barry, who is a member of the Oireachas Transport Committee said:

“The issuing of protective notices is an outrageous and transparent attempt at union-busting. The company are effectively threatening to axe jobs rather than deal with trade unions. 

Solidarity TD MICK Barry this morning said that there should be no backtracking on the Sláintecare report recommendation that universal free GP care be introduced by 2022.

His comments came as the IRISH TIMES reports that last Friday’s Cabinet meeting seems to have downgraded the recommendation from a 5-year to a long term objective.

The proposal to introduce universal free GP care within 5 years was a key element of the Sláintecare report.

Shaping Ireland's Abortion Legislation: Current Scientific Evidence and Best Practices from Medical Guidelines Worldwide 

At a press conference in Buswell’s this morning, Solidarity TD Mick Barry was joined by Aimee O’Riordan, a resident from the Leeside Apartments and Father Peter McVerry.

They called on Minister Eoghan Murphy to immediately introduce legislation to prevent mass evictions as has happened in Leeside.

The press conference came in the wake of a ruling by the Residential Tenancies Board which upheld the right of vulture fund Lugus Capital to carry out a mass eviction of low income families from the Leeside Apartments in Cork.

Notices to quit issued to more than 30 residents by Lugus Capital after their 2017 purchase of the Leeside Apartments were contested at the RTB in April and May. There are more than 20 households remaining in the complex who are affected by this ruling.

Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger has this morning said that she welcomes the sentiment of Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney’s tweet last night condemning the racist policies of the Trump government, but called on him and the government to officially condemn the actions rather than just tweet about it.

They said that the best response and condemnation of these policies would be to withdraw the invitation which Taoiseach Leo Varadkar issued to President Trump to visit Ireland.

This morning Solidarity TD Paul Murphy responded to reports that Minister Paschal Donohoe intends to take €1.5 Billion from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund to establish the fund, alongside a portion of corporation tax income, to establish the 'rainy day fund'.

Paul Murphy TD, member of the Finance Committee, said:

“The establishment of a so-called ‘rainy day fund’ by Fine Gael and agreed by Fianna Fail is another example of how out of touch they are with reality. For the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the many crises in society – be it housing or health – every day is a rainy day, it's monsoon season.

“People will remember what happened the National Pension Reserve Fund, which was raided to pay for the bank bailouts. That is in reality what this fund is being established for again – it will be a new bank bailout fund. The 'expenditure benchmark' fiscal rule will effectively prevent it being used for necessary public investment. It will only be allowed to be spent in cases of ‘external shocks’, which in reality means when banks inevitably fail again.