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Urban Studies and Planning Commons

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Technological University Dublin

2016

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Articles 31 - 47 of 47

Full-Text Articles in Urban Studies and Planning

Low-Cost Housing Is Possible Only If We Prioritise Value For Money, Lorcan Sirr Apr 2016

Low-Cost Housing Is Possible Only If We Prioritise Value For Money, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Assessing value for money is nowstandard practice for government departments and agencies. These bodies, including the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor- General, evaluate the economy and efficiency with which state bodies acquire, use and dispose of resources. This is a positive step in a state system that isn’t very keen on post-hoc evaluation. Since 2009, the Department of the Taoiseach has insisted that all legislation be subject to a regulatory impact assessment—to identify likely positive and negative outcomes of projects. To date, very little legislation has been subject to such an assessment. Evidence is still a dirty word in …


Building Regulations Are In A Terrible State, But I Have A Solution, Lorcan Sirr Apr 2016

Building Regulations Are In A Terrible State, But I Have A Solution, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Inspection of buildings by the state during construction and on completion has led to a huge gap in Ireland’s building history. An almost total lack of state inspection—and, since 1990, a reliance on self-regulation —has contributed to situations such as those at Priory Hall in Dublin and Millfield Manor in Kildare.


That’S Enough Talking, Let’S Have A Proper Plan For Housing, Lorcan Sirr Apr 2016

That’S Enough Talking, Let’S Have A Proper Plan For Housing, Lorcan Sirr

Media

On March 31 acting environment minister Alan Kelly assembled the third housing and homeless forum in two years. It brought together housing NGOs, Nama, local authorities and bodies such as the Central Bank and Construction Industry Federation, as well as TDs from all political parties. The forum was interesting for a few reasons. First, the issues facing housing haven’t changed in the past 24 months. If anything, they’ve intensified, but the underlying problems remain the same. Second, the participant responses will have been mainly the same, too, although also intensified. So why have such an event?


If We’Re Playing By The Rules, It Has To Be A Good Game, Lorcan Sirr Apr 2016

If We’Re Playing By The Rules, It Has To Be A Good Game, Lorcan Sirr

Media

In the 2015 book Rule Breakers, author Niamh Hourigan postulates that Ireland’s success and downfall was due to personal relationships being much more important than rules. She says that a “weak rules and strong relationships” tension permeates Irish life, and not only at the top. This seems to have led to Ireland having a reputation of being friendly and open, and an easy place in which to do business. It has also created a place where corruption has been far too easy and widespread as a result of the power and influence of relationships.


Deposit Scheme Is Welcome — But We’Re Still Playing Catch-Up, Lorcan Sirr Mar 2016

Deposit Scheme Is Welcome — But We’Re Still Playing Catch-Up, Lorcan Sirr

Media

As an increasing number of people find permanent homes in the private rental sector, issues of contention between landlords and tenants will be more frequent. Right nowabout 3% of the population has the legal right to evict more than 20% of households, and so security of tenure will become a key area of debate and discussion. The issue must be addressed, unless government is happy for a significant proportion of its population to exist at the whim of a much smaller percentage, and is willing to deal with the social, health and economic fallout from that.


Want To End Rental Bias? Start Building More Social Housing., Lorcan Sirr Mar 2016

Want To End Rental Bias? Start Building More Social Housing., Lorcan Sirr

Media

When the rent supplement was introduced in 1977 for people in financial need within the private rented sector, the intention was that it would be temporary. Almost 40 years on, it is stillwith us.


Room For Improvement In Kelly’S End-Of-Term Report Card, Lorcan Sirr Feb 2016

Room For Improvement In Kelly’S End-Of-Term Report Card, Lorcan Sirr

Media

As the newgovernment is formed, history may not be kind to Alan Kelly and his tenure as minister for the environment. Many will argue he has presided over a department that has made housing and development more difficult, not less, and that he has put the interests of lobby groups before consumers. Most recently, he has annexed local government by giving his department the power to set planning policy by diktat with no reference to local politicians or the public. It’s easy to forget that there has been an actual minister for housing, Paudie Coffey, who went under the radar …


Religion, Local Produce And Sustainability At Religious Sites In Hungary, Alan Clarke, Ágnes Raffay Feb 2016

Religion, Local Produce And Sustainability At Religious Sites In Hungary, Alan Clarke, Ágnes Raffay

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

There is a growing awareness of sustainable practices at religious tourism sites and we have observed this in Hungary, with the focus shifting from one aspect of sustainability to incorporating all three major aspects, the environmental, the economic and the socio-cultural (Rees and Wackernagel, 1996). Although the economic aspect used to be predominant (Shackley, 2001; Mangeloja, 2003) now we can find more examples of practices that aim to promote socio-cultural sustainability, while taking the natural environment also into account (Tanguay et al, 2010).

Several religious tourism sites have started to offer local produce in their souvenir shops and to incorporate …


The Future Looks Precarious For New Breed Of Long-Term Renters, Lorcan Sirr Feb 2016

The Future Looks Precarious For New Breed Of Long-Term Renters, Lorcan Sirr

Media

It is becoming increasingly evident across Europe and Ireland that there may be a generation of people who will never own their own home. This is not necessarily down to direct housing issues such as affordability or supply—there are broader forces at work here. These people have no predictability in their lives and no security. They are a large and growing social class. Yet they are relatively powerless and are at the mercy of forces way beyond our shores, so even national governments may find it difficult to help them. They are known as the precariat.


Complicated Ideology Is Costing The State Its Social Housing., Lorcan Sirr Feb 2016

Complicated Ideology Is Costing The State Its Social Housing., Lorcan Sirr

Media

Credit should always be given where it’s due. Noel Dempsey therefore deserves a paragraph in Irish housing history for his innovative move in 2000, when, as environment minister, he decreed that developers must set aside one unit for social or affordable housing for every four they build.


Environment Department Doesn’T Have A Clue On Housing, Lorcan Sirr Jan 2016

Environment Department Doesn’T Have A Clue On Housing, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Over the past two years Sherlock Holmes’s evil foe Professor Moriarty has been wandering the corridors of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, wreaking sublime havoc and leaving several reputation-damaging debacles in his wake. The damage has been so bad that in late 2014 an internal review was carried out. Released to RTE under freedom of information laws, the report was critical of the housing capabilities and activities of the department. Given its findings were from an internal probe, one wonders what an external investigation would have made of it. A lot more damning?


My Manifesto For A Bold Housing Policy That We Can Build On, Lorcan Sirr Jan 2016

My Manifesto For A Bold Housing Policy That We Can Build On, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Current housing policy is a ragbag of policies, each with their own timelines— some more specific than others, some more realistic, some embarrassingly awful and others potentially beneficial. With a general election in the offing, therefore, I’m curious to hear what the various parties and aspirant TDs have to say about housing. Pre-election housing policies are usually poorly thought-out, often populist and frequently have no evidence to justify them. Worse, they demonstrate little understanding of the likely intended and unintended outcomes of their proposals.


Don’T Try To Inflate House Prices For The Benefit Of The Banks, Lorcan Sirr Jan 2016

Don’T Try To Inflate House Prices For The Benefit Of The Banks, Lorcan Sirr

Media

When it comes to housing, the constant comparisons with the “peak prices” of 2007 make me wonder whether we’re about to lose the plot again. Perpetual benchmarking against an irrational peak suggests those destructive prices are a target we should aim to achieve, whereas nothing could be further from the truth.


Politicians Turn A Deaf Ear To Planning And Housing Problems, Lorcan Sirr Jan 2016

Politicians Turn A Deaf Ear To Planning And Housing Problems, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Just before Christmas I spent an hour with RTE recording a radio programme reflecting on some of the year’s most significant building and development issues. We discussed building defects, houses being flooded, ghost estates, and so on. After each clip played I gave my analysis of the situation, and it wasn’t long before I found myself repeating the same line, which was effectively: “I bet you there’s a planning report somewhere that says, ‘We don’t recommend you do this’.” But it was done anyway because the politicians—local and national—for their own reasons said “do it”, when the professionals said “don’t”. …


Demographic Data Relating To Deprivation And Inclusion For The Eight Cypsc Regions In Kerry, Denise O'Leary Jan 2016

Demographic Data Relating To Deprivation And Inclusion For The Eight Cypsc Regions In Kerry, Denise O'Leary

Reports / Surveys

This document provides population and household data relating to deprivation for the eight CYPSC areas in Kerry. All data are from the 2011 Census, which means that the figures are not current. However these data were chosen because their availability at appropriate geographic level (District Electoral Division), allowing aggregation into Children and Young People Services Committee regions as other, more recent, data is not available at this level of geographical detail. The data can be updated in approximately 18 months using figures from the 2016 census.1 The following information is provided in the report for each of the eight CYPSC …


Access To Housing In Ireland, Jordan Davin, Shannon Fitzell, Andreea-Elena Ghibirgiu, Christian Jolley, Kevin Kiernan, Holly Laher, Pearse Mccloskey Kiernan, Sean Mcgill, Alison Murray, Gavin Ward Jan 2016

Access To Housing In Ireland, Jordan Davin, Shannon Fitzell, Andreea-Elena Ghibirgiu, Christian Jolley, Kevin Kiernan, Holly Laher, Pearse Mccloskey Kiernan, Sean Mcgill, Alison Murray, Gavin Ward

Students Learning with Communities

No abstract provided.


Environmental Influences On Elite Sport Athletes Well Being: From Gold, Silver, And Bronze To Blue Green And Gold, Aoife Donnelly, Tadhg Macintyre, Nollaig O'Sullivan, Giles Warrington, Andrew Harrison, Eric Igou, Marc Jones, Chris Gidlow, Noel Brick, Ian Lahart, Andrew Lane Jan 2016

Environmental Influences On Elite Sport Athletes Well Being: From Gold, Silver, And Bronze To Blue Green And Gold, Aoife Donnelly, Tadhg Macintyre, Nollaig O'Sullivan, Giles Warrington, Andrew Harrison, Eric Igou, Marc Jones, Chris Gidlow, Noel Brick, Ian Lahart, Andrew Lane

Articles

This paper considers the environmental impact on well-being and performance in elite athletes during Olympic competition. The benefits of exercising in natural environments are recognized, but less is known about the effects on performance and health in elite athletes. Although some Olympic events take place in natural environments, the majority occur in the host city, usually a large densely populated area where low exposure to natural environments is compounded by exposure to high levels of air, water, and noise pollution in the ambient environment. By combining methods and expertise from diverse but inter-related disciplines including environmental psychology, exercise physiology, biomechanics, …