Give councils Nama land so they can build more homes
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar (Mail, Friday) says that the Government was considering repurposing Nama to become a builder of houses.
This is a rather stupid idea in the first place, considering the deal Nama did with our property folio in the North where it gave away property worth €4.5billion for about €1.2billion.
Remember everything that Nama has on its books is the property of the Irish taxpayer.
In the article, the Taoiseach was quoted as saying ‘it is something that has been under consideration for about two months’ regarding making Nama a house builder. He said the first person to suggest it was Michael Noonan.
Back on February 7, I suggested that all Nama assets should be given over to the county councils to dispose of when the market is right and, in the case of housing, to be used to relieve the homelessness situation.
That advice was given to the Government free of charge and cost the taxpayer nothing.
As for the building land assets, the same should apply; give these assets to the councils and let the county managers build council houses on the land.
Can we drop the term ‘affordable housing’ from the dialogue and say council houses instead?
JOHN FAIR, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Ideal candidates
I LISTENED to Nuala O’Loan on RTÉ News yesterday discussing Garda issues and the replacement of the Garda commissioner.
She spoke with considerable authority and integrity and made a lot of sense in what she said.
Given her very excellent experience as Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland during an equally difficult transition process from policing under the old RUC to policing under the new PSNI, should consideration be given to asking Nuala O’Loan to take on the difficult task of being the next Garda commissioner? EDWARD HORGAN, Castletroy, Limerick.
...DONALD Trump would make an ideal Garda commissioner.
He is a man who hates fake news so he would not tolerate the falsification of official statistics; he would have no hesitation in firing slackers; and if the salary were upped to €300,000 it would beat his presidential salary.
Come on over, Mr Trump, we need somebody like you to rid us of the smug ‘job for life’ mentality that contaminates our police force. FRANK O’CONNOR, Blarney, Co. Cork.
We care for dogs
JOHN Fitzgerald (Letters, Friday) made a claim regarding a racing greyhound’s natural lifespan which the Irish Greyhound Board would strongly reject as being inaccurate.
The Irish greyhound industry is well regulated and the IGB liaises with the ISPCA and An Garda Síochána where appropriate to investigate and prosecute for the mistreatment of greyhounds, and the IGB investigates all reports of greyhound mistreatment.
The IGB welfare team completed 571 inspections of kennels in 2016 – this resulted in 34 full investigations and over 20 sanctions being issued.
The IGB has prosecuted under the Welfare of Greyhounds Act 2011 for greyhound mistreatment.
In total, 5,387 samples were taken to combat doping in 2016, of which 48 resulted in an adverse analytical finding which equates to a less than 1% positive rate.
Live baiting is a reprehensible act and is rightly outlawed.
If Mr Fitzgerald has any evidence of mistreatment or cruelty to greyhounds, he should contact the ISPCA, An Garda Síochána or the IGB immediately so these can be investigated. DAVID MCMANUS, Irish Greyhound Board, Limerick.