Darragh O’Brien, the Minister for Housing, must now try to succeed where Eoghan Murphy, Simon Coveney, Alan Kelly, Phil Hogan, Éamon Ó Cuív, John Gormley, Dick Roche, Martin Cullen and Noel Dempsey all failed before him: by wrestling some semblance of enduring stability into the monster that is the Irish housing market. This destructive pattern must be brought to an end before it swamps social cohesion and distorts the whole economy. Research released separately this week by the ESRI and by Myhome.ie, both pointing towards future supply shocks, suggests the Minister faces a daunting challenge. And even in 2019, building levels were less than two-thirds of what they needed to be to calm the crisis. In short, the virus-ravaged private market is in no fit state to fix the issue, so the State should step in to build instead.

Source: The Irish Times October 02, 2020 04:07 UTC