The Man in Room Fourteen In one crucial respect, is like everyone else. He’s a working diagnosis about whom we know both far too much and nothing like enough The man in room fourteen spends twenty four hours either going to the toilet or not going at all; is never a happy medium for happy mediums don’t inhabit rooms like room fourteen His wife brings him a small brown Teddy bear made (naturally) in China, which he immediately names for the Minister For Finance. The man in room fourteen likely has somewhere between two years and a matter of months. While other possibilities stalk elite laboratories; and the walled gardens of certain medical imaginations; the man in room fourteen must now negotiate alone and from a position of weakness the narrow track through the dark that’s his only way back away from the jaws he can hear salivating below him.
Mr Cogito Considers The Side Effects after Dr. Janusz Crawczyk Baldness and shortness of breath a sudden urge to vomit on coats your own and other people’s. Drymouth, brittle nails, a tendency to be not very good at driving fork-lift trucks and to become even worse at pole vaulting than you already were. Explosive watery, diarrhoea and fecal impaction sometimes both simultaneously for the human body likes nothing better than a good argument with itself. Infertility, anaemia, thrombocytopenia, & Life, Life, Life, Life itself are all possible side effects of drugs such as these. KEVIN HIGGINS
Construction educators ‘Common Knowledge’ promote empowerment to improve the environment, quality of life and the community. Their Co-Founder and lead instructor is on the television every Wednesday If inadequate housing remains Ireland’s biggest problem, new policy needs to be developed and implemented without delay. Build School “Within Common Knowledge, lies the potential to empower Irish people to create their own destinies, to build or improve their own homes and shelter”. — Manchán Magan Running since 2018 out of West Clare, Common Knowledge is a social enterprise founded by a small, talented and cosmopolitan group whose mission is to empower people with the skills, resources and sense of community for a more sustainable life. Social impact rather than profit is the aim: to support members in creatively managing just transition, removing stigma about actually building, and make living more affordable. The team at Common Knowledge They supplement intensive training with research and development, and community projects including plans for a building-tool library and sheep-fleece mobile scouring-unit. Their mission goes beyond mere concept or metaphor. High-spec Tiny Homes created by course participants got significant media coverage. Common Knowledge’s popular week-long house-building courses combine instruction, demonstration, and practice, shorn of common constraints and prejudices. They provide a comprehensive introduction to construction, covering basic principles so that skills learned on-site are relevant and transferable. “The course is designed for you to leave feeling equipped with the skills and confidence you will need to apply to any structure. So whether you’re planning a new build, dreaming of renovating a stone cottage, want to build your DIY skills and knowledge, or simply fancy the idea of collaborating and working alongside others for a week outdoors, this is the ideal introductory course for you”. Common Knowledge is a successful example of a type of organisation appearing around the country delivering potentially huge help for people to solve not just the housing but also the wider climate crisis. The State of Irish Housing According to the OECD, Irish houses now cost slightly more than the world average. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which has lead responsibility, published the Housing For All policy in September 2021. This multi-annual, multi-billion euro plan promises to improve Ireland’s housing system and deliver more homes between now and 2030, to suit housing needs across the spectrum. The chief objective is universal access to good quality homes – to purchase or rent at an affordable price built to a high standard and in the right place offering a high quality of life All fine general principles with which few would disagree. For steady supply in right locations, and economic, social and environmental sustainability, an estimated 33,000 new homes are needed annually, to boost home ownership; eradicate homelessness; reduce resource-wasteful dereliction and vacancy; increase social housing delivery, new housing supply, and affordability; and support social inclusion. Multi-stakeholder input is reflected in 213 delivery actions. A newly-established Housing Commission is to examine themes such as tenure, standards, markets functioning, sustainability and quality-of-life issues, and to suggest wording for a housing referendum. When these exercises may become significant for ordinary house-seekers is unclear. Also emphasised is the non-commercial statutory Housing Agency, established by 2012 regulation to support government and local authorities perform functions under the Housing Acts, through services including: Housing Research and Analysis Housing Supply Supports and Advice Local Authority Services Approved Housing Body Services Mortgage Supports Acquisitions Programme Housing Projects and Procurement Services Pyrite Remediation The dearth of information on their website for everyday homeowners suggests a predisposition to a burgeoning professional and often multi-national corporate class involved in housing provision and management, not unlike the direction evidently being taken by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), a public body set up to support and develop a well-functioning rental housing sector. That existing tenants have no option rights on houses they live in if sold is a simple illustration of priorities. Though there has been a precipitous decline in their direct construction of housing in the last 40 years, local authoritiesare still heavily involved, through: building and purchasing houses supporting Approved Housing Bodies to buy and/or build providing accommodation using the private rented sector e.g. Housing Assistance Payment scheme, Rental Accommodation Scheme , Social Housing Leasing Expenditure Programme provision of grants e.g. housing adaptation grants other schemes which expand or improve current living conditions With many rental houses of low BER rating and accommodating resident who are unemployed or on low incomes, the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed (INOU) and related bodies insist they need consistently distinct attention. The reality that families are being forced to split up to keep their housing eligibility not only violates social rights but confirms the need for new housing formats. State agency Solas is charged with fast-tracking construction training qualifications. A Feasta proposal argues for promoting regenerative hands-on technology in mainstream education. Starting up more organisations like Common Knowledge would foster such practical creativity while helping achieve energy-efficiency goals. Very useful is Citizen’s Information’s list of housing grants and schemes, details of which are often scattered across official and independent sources e.g. micro solar pv panels. Revenue also offers various, sometimes overlapping, reliefs relating to land and property. Planning questions and applications are dealt with by government departments, local authorities and An Bord Pleanála. Properties meeting conservation and heritage criteria may qualify for grants from bodies like the Heritage Council, local authorities, the Irish Georgian Society and others. Homelessness services are increasingly linked to the HSE and also, like health services themselves, being increasingly privatised. On building renovation, the Climate Action Plan 2021 focuses almost exclusively on retrofitting, even releasing a dedicated National Retrofit Plan emphasising four pillars: driving demand and activity; financing and funding; supply chain, skills and standards; and governance. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers grants and schemes. The budget levy on concrete, a major producer of greenhouse gases, was for accounting rather than environmental reasons. But climate impact assessment should have top priority by now. Regarding the Plan’s Enterprise commitment
