Why they keep failing to fix the housing crisis
ANYONE with an average IQ can see that the ‘housing crisis’ is a political construct, and politician after politician talking as if the shortage of affordable housing crept up on them and was beyond their control is wearing very thin.
Successive governments have kicked this particular can down the road for decades, in favour of the wealthy, who have bought property portfolios, land and second and third homes, forcing up prices in the process.
If there was any political will, all this could have been easily avoided. No one needs more than one home, but everyone is entitled to somewhere to lay their head.
The admirable Scandinavian model for social housing has been up and running for a very long time, so there is no need for our politicians to grapple with the ‘complexities’ of implementing change.
So, legislation to cap the number of houses an individual can own. A legally binding requirement for every developer to build a percentage of affordable homes in every development. A cap on rents. Compulsory purchase of houses empty for more than six months. Compulsory purchase of land ‘banked’ for more than a year. And stringent planning legislation that leaves no room for ‘favourable outcomes’ for some but not others. Problem solved.
Since the solution is so simple, we are entitled to ask why it hasn’t happened. The only possible answer is that our politicians are not serving the majority of citizens, but a small elite group.
G. MATTHEWS, Co. Waterford.
Stick to the facts
IN response to my recent letter regarding Ibrahim Halawa (Mail, August 30), John Colgan states: ‘Mr Kelly has equated his [Halawa’s] implied religious belief with terrorism’ (Mail letters, August 31).
This is a pretty serious allegation and smear. It also happens to be completely untrue.
I stated that Mr Halawa is involved with an organisation associated with terrorism, or at minimum anti-democratic, the Muslim Brotherhood. That is a fact. Mr. Halawa Sr is an important figure in the same organisation. That is a fact.
Mr Halawa Jr can be viewed on a recording talking to supporters and stating: ‘We will fight until the last bullet.’ That is a fact.
I absolutely reject any idea whatever that all Muslims are terrorists. But if someone publicly declares their support for an organisation like the Muslim Brotherhood, I absolutely believe that deserves to be pointed out.
I also continue to believe our Taoiseach was absolutely wrong to call for the release of such an individual, regardless of the unsatisfactory system of justice operating in another land.
Mr. Colgan then quotes the great Irishman Edmund Burke (‘It is sufficient for good men to do nothing for evil to prevail’).
Burke was a long-term campaigner against slavery in the British Empire. I’m pretty sure the quotation in support of Mr Halawa Jr would not please the great man. I’m also pretty sure Mr. Colgan owes me an apology.
GERRY KELLY, Rathgar, Dublin 6.
A cruel industry
NEWS that a top Irish greyhound has tested positive for cocaine comes as no surprise to those of us monitoring what is, in my view, a deeply cruel and corrupt industry.
A greyhound’s natural lifespan is around 14 years. Yet, the average racing greyhound in Ireland lives to only three or four years. Apart from doping, many dogs are abandoned or killed when their running days are over, or exported to jurisdictions that have little or no animal protection law.
Stories of shallow graves bearing the remains of these unfortunate dogs surface periodically in the media. And other animals suffer in the industry. To enhance their performance, greyhounds are fed live cats, rabbits and birds in socalled blooding sessions.
The industry also encompasses live hare coursing, a practice outlawed in most the jurisdictions that once permitted it. Man’s best friend, and the gentlest creature in the Irish countryside, deserves better than this national disgrace that calls itself an industry.