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A NEW MAJOR European report into housing exclusion across Europe has found Ireland has the second highest rate of rent and mortgage arrears.
Coming in second only to Greece, 20.2% of the Irish population are currently affected.
This is one of a number of statistics that show Ireland to be one of the toughest places in the EU to find affordable accommodation.
The new report from European housing organisation Feantsa makes for harrowing reading for the Irish renter or buyer – showing us to suffer in a number of areas when compared to our EU counterparts.
It comes from a collation of a range of the most recent information from Eurostat, the statistical branch of the European Commission.
Where else does Ireland fall down?
Across a number of areas poor households are more likely to take the brunt of housing policies and market changes than those in better off positions.
A poor household is defined as one that earns less than the 60% of the national median income – a standard that is defined at EU level as being the poverty threshold.
Ireland ranks seventh from bottom out of 28 EU member states when it comes to poor households being hit by fluctuations in the housing market.
The report also looks at the changes in the type of accommodation poor households live in between 2008 and 2013.
Surprisingly, the Irish market saw a 6.1% drop in the number of poor tenants in the private sector – although this is attributed to the “pauperisation of the entire society”, as opposed to more people buying their own homes.
Of the 28 EU nations, 16 see poor tenants pay out more for accommodation than those taking home above the average income.
Ireland is the second worst in this area with 49.2% of poor households paying out more.
We also have one of the highest rates of people thinking they’ll have to move in the next six months, with 9.6% of the population seeing this as a possibility – putting Ireland at a similar level to Greece, Portugal, and Cyprus, countries which also experienced the brunt of the financial crash.
Another area where Ireland came out unfavourably was the risk of women being overburdened with cost when compared to men.
In this area Ireland came off third worst, only behind Spain and the United Kingdom.
Click here for a larger version of the above image.
What should be done?
In its conclusion, the report notes that there has been a rise in homelessness across the bulk of countries over the past few years.
Excessive recommendations are not made about what needs to be done to fix the housing crisis – and it is acknowledged that large number of problems may be local.
Some issues are European-wide though, and areas of success are noted, such as:
How Austria has succeeded in abolishing rental evictions, how Scotland manages to guarantee housing, and how Finland has reformed its emergency accommodation services for much greater effectiveness.
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McDonalds are expanding in Ireland.. Quite like their customers!
unfortunately true. Ireland will follow the USA and UK in the obesity epidemic as ease of access to this type of food increases.
Lads no body forces them to eat it. Self discipline is needed. Anyway fair play to McDonalds, can’t beat the breakfast.
Nothing to do with any fast food outlet! The problem is gluttony . People need to get their snouts out of the trough! BTW, McDs pay more than the minimum wage!
Plenty Mc Donalds in Poland and they’re not obese over there
700 jobs in the cardiac unit?
I love all the folks being negative about this story. How awful, 700 new jobs! God we’re going down the toilet aren’t we? At least one business is actually growing and creating new jobs. Where are all the reputable companies you all want to see and how well are they doing? 700 jobs is not to be sneered at, not to mention the fact that a McDonalds alone brings people to it and the surrounding premises. Can Irish people never just be happy?
Well put Robert!
Here, here!
Becareful using that optimistic attitude around here.
I have friends that say they really want to work but wouldn’t work in mc Donald’s which I find allot of Irish
people are like that I know. It’s obviously not a reflection on all Irish looking for a job but in allot of cases it’s about being fussy despite not being in a position to be. Again I know this wouldn’t be in all cases but in the cases I know. Madness given the lack of jobs out there.
Foreign Nationals who came to Ireland took jobs in the restaurant/cleaning/services industries when the Irish thought the work beneath them. Now that times are hard and works is scarce you constantly hear certain Irish people complain that foreigners are taking our jobs
I think this is crap. In the good times why would any young person work in these industries when they could walk into a building site and get e500 or e600 a week.
Personally I wouldn’t want to work for them ,but this is good news
Why would you not like to work for them?
While new jobs are welcome, min wage jobs for large multinationals that serve unhealthy food will not benefit society in the long run. Just more working poor.
Start off pay is €8.80 above min wage and increases if u go up the ladder!!
staff pay (if you are over 18 and had a job before) is 9.00 an hour and can go up as you progress.. over 18 with no experience is minimum wage
However you feel about McDonald’s products (and I wouldn’t be a huge fan), surely fast food is a component of any modern retail economy. Clearly the company feels somewhat bullish about its prospects in the coming years.
I’m hoping this is a good sign for the economy as a whole.
Not so much. In the last great depression, popcorn sales took off – at the time, popcorn was the social equivalent of mcdonalds – a cheap snack with far too much salt and fat that nobody thought of as real food.
McD’s (and the pizza and other fast food businesses) seeing an uptick in sales is a bad sign for the economy, not a good sign.
And that’s not even mentioning the healthcare issues that the increase in fast food consumption raises.
Agreed. Plus they use Irish beef in almost all their burgers in Europe . Great for the wider economy here!
I was agreeing with Sean!
Wonder how many Irish young people will they take on?
Where are you going with this?
I think I need to go to SpecSavers. I’m seeing double. ;)
Not going anywhere, just wondering. Whether it’s KFC, Burgerking or McDonalds I very seldom see young Irish people serving. My son’s looked everywhere for a part time job and there’s not a hope of getting in anywhere.
I hit the odd mackers for a double cheese now and then and I have to say their restaurants are full of Irish staff. I’m sure the amount of Irish they hire is directly relative to how many Irish people apply. There’s been a snobbery here for years about ‘flippin burgers’ where as in reality we need thousands of these types of jobs to make a dent so its good stuff . as for the health ramifications of eating it, that’s up to the eater.. all in moderation .
Fair point but how many irish will apply. As a bartender I often felt ppl looked down their noses at me for working in the service industry. Completely different here in New York…
@ Kevin…. oh yes America.. the greatest country on earth… typical Irish emigrant they only out of the country 5 minutes and they running it down. Maybe its out gain people like you are gone….
People also look down on bar tenders in America, that’s why Bars pay you a dollar an hour or whatever, and customers feel sorry for you so they tip
Those last 2 comments gave me a laugh. Thanks lads :)
Good to see those arts degrees will be out to good use :-P
Comment of the week.
700 slave labour no union and very low pay jobs that will be taken mostly by foreign nationals.
How much would a happy meal cost of SIPTU got their grubby little mits on McDonalds staff?
“What? a new McFlurry flavour I have to make? I want an increment, and a new title, and less hours… “
I don’t think you understand the concept of slave labour…
20 thumbs down:20 people still living the Celtic Tiger life.
You might want to look up the meaning of ‘slave labour’. I guarantee it doesn’t say you’ll be paid above minimum wage with a salary review each year, free lunch and paid holidays.
Caroline not only is you’re first comment ‘away with the fairies’ but your second comment directly contradicts it. Making them combined …. utter bulls**t.
Caroline, I think you might benefit from waking up to smell a stong McCoffee. McDonalds are not the epitome of minimum-wage opportunists. My brother-in-law, for instance, is applying for an assistant-manager job that pays 89 cents above minimum wage. The owner of a neighbouring business (I’m an employer myself) is roundly exploiting the Job-Bridge Scheme and encouraging other prospective employees to stay on the dole (he’ll generously “top up” their dole to make it something like a semi-realistic wage). This recession is an absolute gift to many an unscrupulous employer. McDonalds really is not among that gang. With all due respect, snap out of it.
Mc donalds pays better than most places around Where u pullin this crap from
My brothers girlfriend works in a Mickey D’s, and low and behold she is a member of SIPTU, who successfully fought a case on her behalf at the Labour Court this year.
Why does it matter if the workers are Irish or not. Many of the current staff in Mc Donalds have been working there since the boom. WIts hen Irish people wouldn’t look at a job in Mc Donald. Whatever way you look at it its 700 people off the dole and gaining some valuable work experience for when things do take up again.
I don’t understand all the negative comments here. No one is being forced to eat their food. They do offer healthy choices and they also provide nutritional details of all their products! So what is the problem? I welcome 700 new jobs. And no I am not employed by Mcdonalds I’m just sick of people pissin and moanin.
http://www.mcdonalds.ie/iehome/food/food_quality/about_our_food.html
http://www.mcdonalds.ie/content/dam/ireland/docs/nutrition.pdf
No Irish working in my local mc Donald’s unless there in the dungeon
It has been a long since I saw an Irish person working in their “restaurants”.
I wonder what percentage of their workers are Irish.
I resent this comment as I am an Irish person working abroad, as I could not find work in Ireland.
I don’t wish to pass some nationalist or racial purity test when applying for jobs here, nor would I wish the same discrimination applied to legal immigrants in Ireland.
Anyone that is legally in the country should be allowed, and encouraged, to seek work.
You can’t win if you’re a foreigner, either stealing jobs when they work or scabbing off the taxpayer if they’re unemployed.
Ur either blind or just stupid!! Loads of Irish in them!! Open ur blinkers maybe
Fairly appalled at the lines this thread has taken. This is news of 700 new jobs which will give 700 people a reason to get up and and be able to contribute to their families and also to society and the economy.
The allusions to race is only born out of a snobbery factor.
If you are concerned about the health risks then don’t eat there.
Couldn’t have said it better myself Mr. Worf. Now fire phasers…
The kind of food produced and marketed by our friends under the arches is contributing to a plague of obesity, diabetes, colo-rectal cancer and cardiovascular disease. I don’t eat that crap, but many of my fellow citizens do, and you and I are paying for their mistake. The Arch boys aren’t paying. WE are paying. The Arch Boys get tax breaks and pats on the back from their pitiful and desperate FG suck-ups. Whooooo. 700 jobs. Only about 10,000 lost last week in this country. I am underwhelmed. On the bright side, think of all those cardiac care nurses they’re creating a demand for!
The food is as deadly as cigarettes. They’re selling death and diabetes to our kids for christ’s sake. You grateful for that?
seamus mcdermott, read my previous post please.
Also is it not up to the individual to look after themselves? I would assume if you told random people on the street what to eat, drink etc you would be told mind you’re own business, and I understand where you are coming from – they’re are always those who will over do it, same as alcohol, prescribed drugs etc. Mcdonalds isn’t as bad a villain as you may think, bigger fish to fry and all that.
They must have heard about the Garda segways.
I think it’s great news. Why be negative? I’d work for them if I was unemployed, conditions are fine and workers there always seem nice. I think it’s great news. As for people who moan about obsitity well in fairness your local chip shop will do the very same. Secret is moderation. I’d have McDonald’s once in a few months tops. Ba ba ba bap ba. I’m lovin it
700 new Jobs in McDonalds… just as 2000 go in Eircom….
There has GOT to be a customer service joke in there somewhere… I just can’t see it… suggestions?
Ireland swaps Broadband for broad waistband!
Zing!! There it is… Kudos Barry
SIPTU burgers would be luxury items.
700 people working,700 people spending…..Happy days!!
As if it’s that simple.
Still no skilled manufacturing jobs? Fast food and supermarkets don’t do a lot for exports.
exports are buzzing its the domestic economy that’s dead. this will give 700 people in those local areas to go out and spend in their locality creating residual jobs.
by the by, Mc Donalds is one of the biggest purchasers and exporters of Irish beef and anchillary produce to the value of nearly 200 million annually.. Dawn meats in Waterford have just built a massive extension and are hiring in order to meet mc D’s needs..
Love their coffee and their sausage egg mcMufins! Ba da da da da something something!
Free advertising for them. “where would you be without mac Donald’s ?”
would murder a big Mac after all that
700 crap jobs with no prospects, other than working in other McDonald’s ‘restaurants’. These jobs are not the jobs this country needs. Those 700 jobs would 1400 jobs in locally owned cafes and restaurants if we didn’t have poor quality chains like these.
Don’t buy fast food from McDonald’s. Make your own lunch or buy from Irish owned outlets (not franchises of foreign countries).
Crap jobs?!!…I don’t see any negatives in teenagers getting a job in MD’s,gaining a work ethic and earning some cash that there cash strapped parents would otherwise have to give them…..Too many grim reapers about
so youd rather 700 on the dole yeah? a job is a job, working there is no different than working in any restaurant or cafe and also nobody is forced to eat there, they do so out of choice.
Exactly people are getting excited for 700 mind numbing soul destroying jobs , but that’s how it is in Ireland now people will settle for whatever they can get . It’s a very sad reflection of the state of affairs of the country .
Why is James Reilly not out shouting from the rooftops? I hope to see him cutting the ribbon on these new premises – he certainly fits the environment. I suppose the planners will also celebrate more jobs and more income. All this while studies and reports show thT obesity will be our biggest cost to our health system in years to come. Obesity is a bigger problem than alcoholism and drug addiction combined in the US.
Mc Clots will thrive in Ireland and any other country that lacks intelligent leaders.
Probably better that they withdraw these 700 jobs, huh, Frank?
so enda do you want fries with that smart economy?
Ah yes; the perfect way for the Government (ha ha ha ha!!!) to encourage more people to eat healthy food instead of clogging their arteries with oil saturated crap that has little or no nutritional value
I see. So you’d rather they *didn’t* offer these jobs?
I’m living it !!!!
How many jobs will be lost because of extra competition in those towns?
Surely other fast food outlets will suffer?!
Or am I wrong? Are we all going to eat out more because McDonald is in town?
Usual free publicity stunt announcing jobs three years in advance.They do the same with their Healthy Menu launches.
According to those figures, they lost €73.7bn in 2011. So why expand?
Like Starbucks, they expand in order to push locally owned competitors out of the market. They will out-bid others for leases and have local special offers in order to make it almost impossible for smaller locally owned businesses to compete. Once all the competition is gone, they close down some of the outlets and drive their custom to the remaining open outlets.
It’s standard unfair business practice which local councils need to address but of course they’re in the pockets of businesses and often own the premises being leased out.
It’s the slow death of small local business and soon, people will forget how to open, operate and profit from a local business. It will all be pre-packaged franchises from abroad.
Fat Bast#rds Paradise.
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