Cllr. Dan Boyle [Green Party] on Twitter with comparison of Finland and Ireland on housing.

6 comments

  1. GDP is not a great indicator of Ireland’s wealth. Pure leprechaun economics.

    However, the homeless figures definitely are.

  2. From the year 2000, Finlands population has increased by 300k, Irelands by 1.3M. And our population is continuing to expand much faster than the Finns. Looking to other countries for ideas and comparisons is good. But the underlying factors are not the same at all.

  3. A couple of things stood out.
    Firstly the GDP figure is a silly one to use, just use the GNI one, it’s still going to be in excess of Finlands.
    But Finland have 11% in social housing and 15% receiving HAP equivalent, so essentially 26% in state subsidised housing compared to our 3% + 7% = 10%.
    Do we want a country where 26% of people live in state subsidised housing?
    Maybe. It’s interesting anyway

  5. I hate comparisons like this, they hide so much issues and it becomes meaningless if people don’t understand what the data represents and the problems with it. Also these comparisons are only ever made to promote a viewpoint, always interesting to see what figures are never shown. But what I hate is the debate that comes from them, it creates a divide when their doesn’t need to be one.

    Is Ireland’s urban planning and housing model an absolute disaster ? Yes. Has the problems been decades in the making and a lot of warnings given about it? Yes. Are our politicians willing to make the tough choices needed ?

  6. Anyone who uses GDP figures as a measure of Irish wealth is a clown. Our adjusted GNI figure is a far better measure.

    Also if we want Finnish style social programs we better start taxing like them, but obviously I’m not defending the state of affairs over here.

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