First ever Sinn Féin member of Housing Executive Board
Newry and Mourne councillor Brendan Curran has become the first ever Sinn
Féin
member of the Board of the Housing Executive.
Commenting on his
appointment following nomination by Housing Council, Cllr
Curran said:
"It
has been a long standing anomaly that no Sinn Féin elected
representative
has ever been a member of the Housing Executive Board,
despite the fact
that representatives from all of the other main parties
have been on
the Board.
"This is an important opportunity at a time when there
are huge pressures on
social housing, not least with the year on year
under provision of new
social built homes and increasing numbers of
homeless people.
"There are also very serious problems with the
allocation system and
concerns that across the north that housing is
not always being allocated
fairly. Indeed the spark that lit the civil
rights movement in the 1960's
was a result of discrimination in housing
allocation in Caledon.
"The Housing Executive faces a number of
challenges. I look forward to
finally being in a position to bring an
Irish republican analysis into the
workings of the Board of the Housing
Executive." ENDS
Note to Editor
No Sinn Féin
elected representative has ever been a member of the Housing
Executive
Board. Cllr Curran has been a member of the Housing Council for 8 years.