Dublin Opinion

In 1972 Rosita Sweetman wrote the following in her book, On Our Knees: Ireland 1972:

You may wonder why the Fianna Fail government doesn’t do something about controlling the price of land, the building of houses and general accommodation problems in a city bursting at the seams…If you are still sceptical, you might take a trip around the newer, posher estates being built on the outskirts of Dublin. The names ‘Gallagher’, ‘McInerny’ and ‘Sisk’ will re-occur constantly on the billboards. Now, if you dig a little deeper you will discover that Mr. Matt Gallagher and his brother are two of the biggest building/contractors in Dublin. and they’re among the biggest contributors to TACA. And TACA is the fund raising section of the Fianna Fáil party, without TACA, Fianna Fáil would go bankrupt in the morning. And if you still don’t see why the government don’t do something about compulsory purchase of land for subsidized housing, and curbing the activities of the private speculators, you’re very naive indeed. (p.31)

People keep telling us that Ireland has changed in the past fifteen years. And while it’s true that some things have changed, when it comes to the roots of influence in Irish society, however, some things remain the same. TACA may have been wound down in the 1970s, but Fianna Fáil simply found other, more discreet, ways of raising money.

At a time when property prices are falling, the Irish government has announced that it is to stem this fall by entering the mortgage market with a guaranteed line of credit.

Speaking in Galway yesterday, the Taoiseach said that

“The role of the Government is not to artificially inflate house prices and we will not do so. The Government will help those eligible people who have negotiated a good price and wish to purchase a home but are being prevented from doing so due to unreasonable restriction of credit.”

The Minister for Finance followed the Taoiseach’s remarks, saying,

“That is not an intervention in the mortgage market. It doesn’t have any implications for public finances. It is off the balance sheet. We are not talking about interfering in the housing market… Certainly, there is some scope at the margins for the Government to provide some element of finance to those who otherwise could not access it.”

The affordable housing scheme states that an affordable home “is a home that you buy at a discount to the market price, and you must live in it. If you sell within 20 years, you will have to pay back a percentage of the sale price to the local authority…. What makes these homes affordable is that they are all available at prices that are much lower than the market value.”

At the moment, the scheme has 552 affordable homes on its website.

Far from being available at a 20% discount to the market price, however, the current prices for affordable homes under the scheme are up to 30% more expensive than apartments advertised on Daft.ie.

This is the real reason for the government’s intervention. To try to stem the drop in house prices, using the ruse of low-paid workers as the means to do it.

One example.

Fingal county council have two-bedroomed apartments available in Carrington, Northwood, Santry, from €246,000 To €277,000. In order to qualify, you must earn between €40,000 and €60,000 a year if applying on your own, or if you are buying with someone else, a joint income of up to €165,000 a year.

Around half the working population is on less than €34,000 a year - which means that this particular affordable housing scheme is not for them.

If you earn less then €40,000 a year in the Dublin area, you can apply to Fingal County Council for a two-bedroomed apartment in Mulhuddart, (€180,000 to €205,000). And that’s it.

In North County Dublin, however, you can get the following two-bedroomed apartments:
Moylaragh Rise, Balgriggan for €188,000,
Hamlet Lane, Balbriggan for €200,000,
Trimblestown, Balbriggan, for €210,000,
Barons Hall Park, Balbriggan, for €215,000,
Brackenwood Drive, Balbriggan, for €215,000,
Moylaragh Manor, Balbriggan, for €215,000.

With regard to North Dublin, for around €250,000 you can get a two-bedroomed apartment in the following places: - Finglas - Santry Cross, Ballymun - Clonshaugh, Dublin 17 - and in Clonshaugh (two-bed house).

The idea that Fianna Fáil is intervening to help affordability during a downturn is laughable. They did nothing to help affordability during the lat ten years - in fact, they actively inflated the market through tax incentives and government policy.

This is all about the vested interests who fund Fianna Fáil.