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Ruairi Fahy

Ruairi Fahy

People Before Profit

2024 is our chance for change. Our chance to get out from under the weight of the current political establishment and forge a path for real transformative change Together we can fight for a living wage county, universal public housing, free public transport and a hospital people don't fear

Priorities

  • Housing

    From families living in box rooms and hotels to people being illegally evicted relying on the private sector has caused misery we need public housing

  • Other

    Council contracts should give preference to unionised companies and coops while ensuring a living wage is paid to workers to tackle in-work poverty

  • Transport

    We've seen how other places have tackled traffic, accessibility and cost-of-living with free public transport we need to trial it in Limerick

These answers were provided by the candidate

Taxes and charges
1 of 21 questions
Local Property Tax rates in Limerick should be reduced, even if it means cutting spending on local services and amenities
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The property tax was implemented as an austerity tax and is penalising people for the house price increasing due to government policy to drive those prices up. Locally directed spending in Ireland is under half the EU average and increasing the property tax to the maximum won't shift that by 1%"

- Ruairi Fahy
Taxes and charges
2 of 21 questions
Commercial rates in Limerick should be reduced to help local businesses, even if it means cutting spending on local services and amenities
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The rates & rebate scheme shows how we can increase taxes on the major companies in industrial estates while protecting small businesses. Many of these multinational companies are making record profits that should be taxed and used to improve services in Limerick."

- Ruairi Fahy
Taxes and charges
3 of 21 questions
On-street parking charges should be reduced, even if it means cutting spending on local services and amenities
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The parking charges are already quite low in Limerick compared to other areas. We should be looking at ways to make towns and cities more accessible without a car rather than decreasing parking charges."

- Ruairi Fahy
Housing
4 of 21 questions
The Council should increase the percentage of social and affordable housing in all new developments
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "We should also make Limerick a trial housing for universal public housing where public land is retained in public ownership instead of being given to developers in exchange for a fraction of the homes built. Homes should be available to everybody with rents linked to incomes"

- Ruairi Fahy
Housing
5 of 21 questions
If someone refuses an offer of social housing, they should be put to the back of the waiting list
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "There are many legitimate reasons to reject an offer of a house including inaccessibility of work, education, community or family support. We should provide more options for people, like choice rental or allow social housing tenants the option to swap with other tenants for a more suitable home."

- Ruairi Fahy
Housing
6 of 21 questions
More accommodation for Travellers should be built in Limerick
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Ireland has multiple violations of the European Social Charter in relation to the provision and maintenance of Traveller accommodation. Funding has been set aside by government but many council are not drawing that funding down leaving homes and facilities unbuilt."

- Ruairi Fahy
Housing
7 of 21 questions
Too many one-off rural houses are being built in Limerick
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: " For thriving rural communities and allowing people a chance to live close to where they grew up land that is zoned residential should be CPOd at agricultural value +25% as outlined in the 1973 Kenny report Preference to sites should be given to those who make land available to the former landowner"

- Ruairi Fahy
Housing
8 of 21 questions
To increase housing density in urban areas, new developments should be limited to one parking space per house
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The council already wants to reduce car use by 50% by 2030 to meet climate targets. New developments should also include safe, secure parking for bikes and other active travel vehicles and we should aim for fast, free and frequent public transport to ensure people can get where they need to be."

- Ruairi Fahy
Transport
9 of 21 questions
The provision of public transport (rail and bus) should be prioritised over building roads
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The expansion of roads usually creates induced demand. We should also try to make transport free for everyone, in order to reduce the friction involved in getting people to give up their cars. For this to work morning and evening connections to Cork, Shannon, Ennis and Galway need to be improved."

- Ruairi Fahy
Transport
10 of 21 questions
Too many bike lanes are being built in Limerick
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The cycling network needs to be completed, junctions need to be upgraded and there needs to be a massive build out of secure bike parking facilities at transport hubs, in the city centre and at privately owned shopping centres and workplaces."

- Ruairi Fahy
Transport
11 of 21 questions
Road projects such as the N/M20 and the Northern Distributor Road must be urgently progressed
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "For the cost of building out these projects we could provide free and expanded public transport for everyone in the city and county for nearly 100 years. The ideal situation would be to develop a reliable and suitable public transport system so that using a car for those journeys is a rare decision"

- Ruairi Fahy
Transport
12 of 21 questions
More streets in Limerick city and town centres should be pedestrianised
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Pedestrianisation has been a major success in Galway. Limerick city lacks a real centre due to the Georgian grid so pedestrianisation could add a chance to create shared, quiet public spaces in cities and towns that attract people in rather than drive them to places like Jetland and the Crescent."

- Ruairi Fahy
Transport
13 of 21 questions
The new 30km/h speed limit in Limerick city centre should be extended to more urban areas
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Housing estates should be limited to 30km/h and additional traffic calming methods and road layout changes should be added to reduce the use of some areas as "rat runs"."

- Ruairi Fahy
Health
14 of 21 questions
To address the trolley crisis, it is better to expand capacity in the UHL emergency department than to re-open other emergency departments in the region
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The closure of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's has been a disaster for the mid-west with so many people having to suffer on chairs and trollies for days leading to them getting sicker and even dying. There's a need to reopen EDs in the midwest to save lives rather than relying on UHL."

- Ruairi Fahy
Health
15 of 21 questions
The development of new private hospitals in Limerick will undermine the public health services and should be opposed
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The private healthcare system can only operate and be profitable so long as we have a dysfunctional public healthcare system. Due to our reliance on private healthcare Ireland has one of the highest spends on treatment costs per capita, we need better public health, not more for-profit hospitals."

- Ruairi Fahy
Law & order
16 of 21 questions
The Council should be more willing to evict local authority tenants who engage in anti-social behaviour
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The housing crisis is creating a situation where people are getting stuck in dangerous living situations from domestic violence to harm to causing harm to their neighbours. There needs to be a mass build out of social housing so people are not being evicted into homelessness."

- Ruairi Fahy
Law & order
17 of 21 questions
The Council should step up efforts to impound horses that are held without licence
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "We need to build out a horse project in Limerick to give young people with an interest in horses the skills to care for them. Youth services haven't been restored since the crash, funding needs to be restored and services need to be provided, especially for you people who have no interest in sport."

- Ruairi Fahy
Environment & energy
18 of 21 questions
More wind farms (including onshore) should be built in Limerick
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "We need publicly and community owned energy systems. At the moment there is opposition to wind farms as people don't see any benefit from them. Many are being built to serve the interest of large energy users through power-purchase-agreements rather than lowering energy costs for families."

- Ruairi Fahy
Environment & energy
19 of 21 questions
It would be good for the region if the Shannon liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal went ahead
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "We are in the midst of a climate crisis, constructing an LNG terminal to import gas which can have a higher lifecycle carbon footprint than coal would be a mistake. We should focus on lowering energy use through home retrofits and requiring large energy users to disconnect if there's a shortage."

- Ruairi Fahy
Immigration
20 of 21 questions
Some vacant buildings in Limerick should be used to alleviate the shortage of accommodation for asylum seekers
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "We should implement a use-it-or-lose it policy for all vacant and derelict buildings in the city and county and make them available for housing and community use depending on what is most suitable. Leaving places empty in a housing crisis shouldn't be tolerated."

- Ruairi Fahy
Immigration
21 of 21 questions
Limerick should accommodate a proportionate share of the asylum seekers who come to Ireland
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Just as Irish people were taken in during the famine we need to support people as part of our common humanity. We should oppose using Shannon Airport for the transfer of weapons, the militarisation of the EU and take real climate action to reduce the conditions that drive people from their homes."

- Ruairi Fahy