Presidential candidate Jim Gavin vows to 'keep the pressure' on Government over housing crisis
The Government’s progress on solving the housing crisis is “not good enough yet”, Fianna Fáil’s presidential election candidate has said.Jim Gavin said he would “keep the pressure” on Government to deliver on housing if he is elected as president next month.“There’s a huge focus going on housing. All I can do, from my perspective, if I am fortunate enough to get elected, is to keep the pressure, keep the focus on housing. That, ultimately, needs to be solved,” Mr Gavin said.Pressed directly on whether or not the Government was doing a good job, Mr Gavin said: “They’re moving forward, it’s not good enough yet. We acknowledge that.” Mr Gavin acknowledged he would not be in a policy-making role if elected, but said he would be willing to speak up for people whose voices were not being heard.“That is the role of the president, to speak for those who might not have a voice,” Mr Gavin said.
I’m very aware of the limits of the role, but also very aware of the unifying power that the president can have.
“If I need to speak out on behalf of those who were mentioned earlier, who mightn’t be heard, whose voice needs to be heard. Without fear or favour, I will speak up.” The former Dublin GAA manager was also asked about the criticism of his comments on the ongoing war in Gaza, particularly surrounding his reference to Israel’s “military objectives” in the Palestinian enclave.Questioned directly if it was an appropriate way to describe Israel’s actions, Mr Gavin said: “Let me be clear, there is genocide taking place daily in Gaza.“The Israeli government is committing war crimes and that needs to stop, the fighting needs to stop, the hostages need to be handed over unconditionally.“We need to get aid into Gaza and we need to get medical relief and care to the women and children in Gaza.” Pressed if his language was appropriate, Mr Gavin said the war in Gaza had gone on “way too long”.“It just needs to stop.” On the Women of Honour, Mr Gavin said they had “done the State a great service” to highlight issues of abuse within the Defence Forces.Asked if he saw similar issues during his own time in the Defence Forces, Mr Gavin said he had a “really positive experience”.“But I’m very aware that that isn’t the case for everybody and as I said, I think they’ve done a great service and we need to support them.” Mr Gavin said while he was in a command position, he set “very high standards”.“If I had any sense of that, you know, I would have taken very strong action.” He said it “absolutely” came as a shock to him when he heard about the experience of the Women of Honour and their concerns “need to be addressed”.“I’m fully behind them.”Responding to Mr Gavin’s criticism, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said the central focus was on “increasing housing supply”.“Clearly, the levels of housing presently being delivered doesn’t match the ambition that we have,” Mr Chambers.“We want to do more, we want to deliver more.”
