John McManus: Wir müssen uns der Realität stellen, dass der Wohnungsmangel nicht gelöst werden kann
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/07/23/we-need-to-confront-the-reality-that-the-housing-shortage-cant-be-solved/
Von jonnieggg
John McManus: Wir müssen uns der Realität stellen, dass der Wohnungsmangel nicht gelöst werden kann
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/07/23/we-need-to-confront-the-reality-that-the-housing-shortage-cant-be-solved/
Von jonnieggg
38 Kommentare
Sure it can, the political will to do it just is not there.
We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas.
https://preview.redd.it/nueadfrn2lef1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ce3523d12de9802a2f8c5adf12a77108fda14d7
Absolutely pathetic attitude from this boomer gombeen
Can’t be solved by the private sector. Could be solved by the state. Other European countries achieved it in far more economically challenging times post WW2………this is an ideological position encouraged by vested interests and politicians voted in on a platform to do nothing
Looks like homelessness is baked into government policy. We need to quadruple current construction output. The only thing that can be done now it seems is to reduce demand, but that would be racist according to the brains trust on r/Ireland.
Of course it can be solved. A primary school student would understand that you increase supply if demand can not be reduced easily.
The housing crisis can be solved. But no government wants to solve it.
I wonder why…
That’s the spirit
Minister James Browne staring at a mid-2000s housing estate like a medieval serf wondering at the remains of the Colossus of Rhodes
You know they could just hmmm i dunno,
Create a state owned or semi state building company and build some more fucking houses and apartment blocks.
I mean we did it in the 60’s
Fuck me the politicians in this country are a bag of cunts
https://i.redd.it/2ekeidyw2lef1.gif
I suppose if the indignity of their utter failure to resolve the situation over **decades** wasn’t enough, we now have to listen to the bastards preen on about it with self-serving drivel.
Well…we deserve it. The cunts who could have gone out to vote for a move away from this sat on their holes and did nothing. A lot not done, more to come.
There’s nothing stopping the government sticking thousands of builders on staff and going hell for leather building high density housing.
Hell they could make house purchasing a licensed activity, then disallow licences to anyone except owner-occupiers.
It can’t be solved without a change to the status quo that government (or the electorate) is willing to make.
800k new arrivals in last ten years, it can never keep up.
Here is an idea, build more houses and only sell them to first time buyers at reasonable prices
Everyone ignoring the contents of the article, he’s saying it can’t be resolved at this level of population growth, and he’s right.
It absolutely can be solved, you just have to have the willingness, clout and not mind ruffling up the feathers of some existing home owners.
Who genuinely believes if you put any business leader that’s well respected in Ireland and gave them the necessary powers, this wouldn’t be solved?
I reckon Michael O Leary would have it solved in 6 months and be looking for a new job.
Sure we’ll end up with the inevitable (and beautiful) high rise apartment buildings, with roof top gardens, bars and hotels. Some NIMBY’s will have a bad day.
But this is a management crisis of small minded thinkers.
We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas…
The problem as ever is that everybody (including most people on r/ireland) wants to pretend that trade-offs don’t exist.
We haven’t „tried nothing“. We have just pre-decided that trying things cannot ever allow anything else to get worse.
There is no magic solution that lets us keep all the good stuff and suddenly have adequate housing.
We lower building standards? That means we’re less prepared for climate change, and people have to live in smaller, colder, uglier units.
We loosen borrowing? That puts us back at risk of 2008 all over again.
Government builds everything? If you think all construction workers going to work for OPW Nua will make them more efficient I have a bike shelter to sell you.
And the „just reduce demand (I’m not rAcISt)“ posters? You guys are in JUST AS MUCH denial. Who makes up our growth? Who are you planning to exclude?
In rough order of the size of each group:
Returning Irish emigrants? Obviously not.
EU free movement workers? We cannot. If we tried if would be the same embarrassing Brexit collapse we witnessed next door.
Highly skilled workers? Collapsing the pharmaceutical/healthcare/tech industries that pay for everything and are the only currently sustainable part of our tax base.
Oh, eh, like less skilled workers, eh… Brazilians? Right. Collapsing the childcare industry. If you think banning those 5,000 people a year is going to be the critical difference, go right ahead (it won’t be). Just don’t come on here with a whiny post next year about how you can’t get a childcare place for your kid, and look at how expense your wowburger receipt is, the country’s just a ripoff. Why does meat cost so much anyway?
If you want no childcare, no care workers, cafe prices skyrocketing on par with Iceland, no meat processing, no fruit harvesting (sure didn’t the Keelings fellas give us all covid), go right ahead.
But be honest that IT’S A TRADE OFF. Stop being giant babies who think that this one weird trick is going to solve the whole thing. If you want to collapse parts of the economy to slow down housing growth, fine. But don’t pretend like that’s not what you’re proposing!!
(For me, I choose the smaller uglier 2005-standard units. That’s the lesser of all these evils, to me)
Absolute bolox! make a state run building company and build some fucking houses stop relyyng on greedy fucking developers
Not with the current shower of shites we have in government, thats for sure, all they care about are international corporations
This title is missing some text, it’s „We need to confront the reality that the housing shortage can’t be solved by a FFG government“
Can’t? Or don’t want to?
As per the general election less than a year ago. The majority of voters are not impacted by the housing crisis. In fact a large chunk of the population are happy to see the value of their homes increase. Including those who have put everything into getting a home in recent times by borrowing to the hilt to get a roof over their heads. They are the last ones who want to see the price of houses drop in to negative equity. Unfortunately, high prices are by design, driven by vested interests and the government can play all the political lip service in the world to placate the public, but the hard facts are that FFG are still the most popular political parties and a GE next month would give the same result and endorsement of existing policies as last November.
Socialising this self helplessness language is just another level of getting people to accept, nothing will (as opposed to ‚can‘) be done. It’s so infuriating, and unfair on people. Home ownership vs house investment should not be so exposed to the vagaries of the market. One generation gets penalised for coming of age at the wrong time. A government should protect its citizens and our society’s welfare better than it has been. However, again as per the GE in November, it’s only takes about 25% of the electorate to be happy with the status quo to keep the government in power. We can safely assume most of these are home or multiple property owners.
Run a campaign that opens the door for people to retrain in to the trades. Apprentice wages are prohibitive to people in their late 20s, 30s etc with costs
Got it John so we should just continue doing nothing? Got it.
How easy would be to legislate an increase of 1000% in Property Tax to all owners (individual or business) that own more than 10 resenditial properties?
But we have the fox guarding the henhouse, how is the Dail going to legislate against its own members?
Little reminder that there are 163,433 vacant houses in Ireland, way more than is needed to house everybody
Ah, I see all the slow kids in the class (mainstream journalists and economists) are finally starting to realise that our unsustainable immigration numbers are, indeed, unsustainable – especially with regard to housing.
How brave and noble of them to bide their time for the discourse to become acceptable before speaking the truth.
It would suit the government parties if everyone started believing this
*“The housing shortage can’t be solved and the health service can’t be fixed. Just work, pay your taxes and die, you fucking plebs.“*
Stop prohibiting people to build on their own land. Solves many peoples problems in country areas such as several friends of mine. You’re welcome.
Man this stuff just depresses me. I am one of the property owners who allegedly benefits from this, but in reality my house is worth abou 50k more than when I bought it 20 years ago (if I decided to sell it, which I wont)- and my kids haven’t a chance. I get that some cohort of society is benefitting, but its hard to envisage a future for most.
He’s right about the unsustainable nature of our current population growth rate, but he’s wrong about the impossibility of solving housing.
We can solve one by uniting the island, which would drastically reduce uncontrolled and illegal immigration; currently a huge mess because there isn’t a controllable border with the UK. Then we should become much more selective about issuing visas and ensure that things like the Brazilian loophole are closed, because it’s completely senseless. We’re a very high demand country and we should use that leverage to recruit the best talent in the world, but not random people.
Right now the government is using immigration to drive down salaries, and that’s the wrong approach. They also primarily facilitate immigration from right wing countries, because it helps keep them in power, which is a very bad idea in the long run.
How long is this shit going to gone for until shit just boils over and the government is removed? Do they think they can just carry on like this forever
Government must supply social housing for those that need it. Markets are in it for profit only. It was a ridiculous idea to begin with.
It’s not being treated as the emergency it is because it doesn’t affect the wealthy, the upper middle class, or the typical FG/FF voter.
Banks going under? Emergency. All stops pulled out to stabilize them.
COVID? Emergency for health and business. All stops pulled out to contain it.
15000 homeless, uncounted thousands stuck living at home. „Let’s give out grants that make houses more expensive. That didn’t fix it? Oh well.“
It can, just build up
… by capitalism. Can’t be solved by capitalism. The shortage is by design.