A chara, - According to Rory de Bruir of Kildare Town Development Association (Home News, January 26th) the development of Magee Barracks in Kildare Town for social housing would be "madness". The land, he claims, is worth €22 million and social housing could be built on "more affordable" (i.e. cheaper) land.
This kind of opposition to housing rights for people is typical of the warped thinking about housing now so prevalent. The very term "social housing" is indicative of the same mentality. All housing is essentially social in that shelter is a social need. But, like healthcare, the right to housing in this State has been sacrificed to the Almighty Market so that what matters is not the real value of houses as homes for people, but their potential as rented property or their price in the speculative market. This creates a kind of "anti-social" housing, unaffordable to all but the wealthy.
The "madness", therefore, is not that the Government has rightly decided to provide homes at the site of Magee Barracks, but that it has not done likewise in more places around the country. - Is mise,
MÍCHEÁL MacDONNCHA, Cill Bharróg, Baile Átha Cliath 5.