Sir, – Well done to Una Mullally on her snapshot of the current situation in the Dublin rental sector, which is a clear manifestation of the dysfunctional housing market that persists in this country ("Tiny flats and endless queues creating bunk bed generation", Opinion & Analysis, August 29th).
While she highlights some of the contributing factors and possible root causes, she fails to mention one possible factor which allows this to persist. This Government, like those which recently preceded it, seems to think that interference in a market is a line it cannot cross, regardless of the relentless suffering it causes to the citizens it purports to represent. It has bought into the orthodoxy that government should not over-regulate but allow the so-called free market provide for the population when all evidence and precedent indicates that it will always only really serve a small elite.
It is beyond reason how our political class can think it acceptable to live in a society in which gainful employment is no longer a guarantee of a roof over one’s head. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Blackrock, Cork.
Sir, – Once again Una Mullally trains her sights on the Central Bank’s mortgage restrictions and concludes that they are unfair as they keep poor people out of the housing market and allow rich people to buy property.
Does she ever take a moment to consider what would happen if more credit were made available? Does she ever consider that the so-called rich people will still outbid the less well off? After all, they have more money!
Does she believe that looser credit is required in order to develop land? Obviously not, given that development is, by her reckoning, massively profitable.
The housing shortage is the most serious issue facing many people at the moment. They deserve better than muddled thinking and the substitution of anti-Government bromides for rational analysis.
While you continuously call for imaginative solutions, not one of your columnists makes the case for a proper residential property tax. Not one of your columnists dares to propose ending the capital gains tax exemption for principal private residences. Instead all we have are statements of the obvious – “homelessness is bad” – and hand-wringing.
When will your columnists tackle the real barrier to housing progress – the self-interest that ensures that Nimby–ism triumphs and the widespread dependence of housing as a tax-free asset which must continue to appreciate in value. – Yours, etc,
MATTHEW GLOVER,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Hugh Sheehy (August 30th) is absolutely correct in asserting that Irish politicians have long favoured high house prices. A clear example of this is the blatant attempt to circumvent the eminently sensible Central Bank rules on mortgage limits – rules that should have been in place years ago – through a "help-to-buy" scheme for first-time buyers. The unequivocal evidence from the UK is that such schemes significantly increase the price of houses. They do absolutely nothing for first-time buyers. We can be certain that an Irish scheme will be announced on budget day.
Everyone knows that we are repeating the mistakes of the very recent past and that those with a vested interest in expensive housing are once again dictating the terms of the debate. Unfortunately, it is hard to think of a single politician with the requisite integrity and ambition to recognise this fact and to really address the housing crisis in Dublin; most seem content to make bland statements about increasing supply while studiously avoiding any hard decisions around planning, taxation, property rights, derelict sites, mortgage arrears and so forth. Meanwhile, house price “recovery” in Dublin is getting closer and closer to the halcyon days of 2007. Well played all! – Yours, etc,
BILL CALLAGHAN,
Clontarf, Dublin 3.