The Frontline Blog

The last monument to the Celtic Tiger?

Monday, 25 Jan 2010
David Nally
Editor
It seems that the last monument to the Celtic Tiger will be a huge number of empty houses and apartments with many people living on half-empty "ghost estates".   The revelation by the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis that the true total of vacant units is over 300,000 came as a shock last week even to many of those who work in the area and are familiar with the problems.
 
Our theme tonight is what on earth are we going to do with all these vacant housing units? House builders, who don't accept that the true figure is anything like that high, say that demand will return to the market and the vacant houses/apartments will be sold sooner or later. Those who work in social housing or with the homeless say the state should buy (or take possession somehow) of these houses and use them for social housing or for housing the homeless - others envisage retirement villages, childcare and educational facilities etc.
 
But many economists say that with these houses becoming more dilapidated by the day, the vast majority will never be sold. Also, the State will only ever be able to use a small percentage for social housing or other social uses. Some believe that the only long-term solution is to bring in the bulldozers and write them off as a huge failure of planning and economics in this country. 
 
What is life like on one of these ghost estates? Do people trapped in a house which is far from the dream they bought into have any way out? And where does NAMA come in - is it ultimately going to take possession of these houses as collateral for unpaid bank loans and if so, what value will be placed on them? Will the property developers who borrowed for and built these houses be able to pass the problem on to the taxpayer?
 
Minister for Housing Michael Finneran will join us tonight to argue the future of our ghost estates and empty houses with many others including residents, builders and economist. Let us know what you think by emailing thefrontline@rte.ie or commenting on this blog.  And enjoy the show.
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Comments:

Pat, Our residents association successfully ensured the completion of our housing estate by holding up the Planning & Development Act and pointing out to the County council what enforcement notice they had to issue. They councils are employing muppets that dont know how to do their job. Diarmuid (Athlone)

Posted by Dermot Winston on January 25, 2010 at 10:47 PM GMT #

Hi pat, Just watching your program. Self certs are written by Architects and or engineers and in some cases building surveyors. All of us should have PI cover in place to cover defective certs that is certs written for work not correctly done. My own insurance has a liability into often hundreds of millions for my certs. I often lost many a job or was replaced halfway through a project because I refused to sign certs for developers where I was not happy with the works but these developers had no difficulties in finding other often RIAI members who were quite happy to sign these certs. Money talks for some people.

Posted by Gary Solan Architect on January 25, 2010 at 11:21 PM GMT #

It was claimed by Pat Kenny on tonight's programme that Council planners give planning permission to developers. They do not; that is untrue. Planners report on Applications and issue a RECOMMENDATION to the County Manager. They can be, and not infrequently are, over-ruled. Mr Kenny should get it right.

Posted by Dermot on January 25, 2010 at 11:28 PM GMT #

How can local authorities be expected to return a house after leasing for twenty years in the same condition as they received it!

Posted by Social housing - leasing arrangement on January 25, 2010 at 11:32 PM GMT #

Is it any wonder that people prefer to build one off housing (Planning head's comment about 400000 once off houses) - housing estates built in the last 10-15 years are poorly built, poorly insulated with poor plumbing. At least when you build yourself you can see the quality of the work. A builder's engineer, paid for by a builder, is hardly independant. Who is going to help homeowners fix the problems now as the builders have reneged on their responsiblilties and councils don't want to know.

Posted by Josephine Moran on January 25, 2010 at 11:33 PM GMT #

i had bad credit but im ok now i would love to buy a house but the banks wont give me a mortgage even though i pay 500 a month rent i have worked since im 15 im now 28 and my tax is gone up a lot this year as far as im conserned its gone up to help the likes of the banks get out of there bad debt wats the government going to do about that and i know im not alone in that situation

Posted by conor mc keown on January 25, 2010 at 11:38 PM GMT #

The developers and builders made out like gangbusters from the upside of supply and demand; now they should have to live with the downside: the asking price of the houses should be lowered until they sell. When they get to ten grand each, I'll take two.

Posted by Emmet Caulfield on January 30, 2010 at 06:30 PM GMT #

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