President Michael D Higgins has been consistent in his criticisms of the housing market in Ireland going as far back as 20 years…this is from 2002

8 comments

  1. “When future historians come to write of the period of high economic growth experienced in Ireland in the 1990s and beyond, they will ask some fundamental questions, ones that are not being sufficiently addressed in our own time – questions from which we cannot run away. How could the public accept such speculation in housing as would transform society for the worse, tear the heart out of the economy, and create a mountain of debt for a future generation of young couples? The issue is not what happened to the average mortgage repayment during the period of the Partnership for prosperity and Fairness. The issue is what happened to the price of houses, and why?”

  5. I was at a speech he gave during the Galway Arts Festival during his first term, and it was about housing and having homes for people. He’s always been consistently talking about this.

  6. House prices went up because urban planning and home building completely and utterly failed to keep up with changes in household sizes, structures, location preferences, and immigration which all moved demand from rural areas into the cities, from 3- and 4-bed units to 1-beds, 2-beds, and studios, and dramatically increased overall demand.

  7. Bit of a slap in the face considering he’s a landlord himself and even evicted students to benefit from a tax cut designed to benefit those who buy and sell properties within a short time frame aimed at developers to flip houses for profit. He’s a champagne socialist. Nothing more. He’s right in what he’s saying but the fact that he’s the one saying it is a bit two-faced.

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