Promising start for Coveney - Housing crisis

IN a housing crisis, what people really need is a roof over their heads.

Whether or not families and individuals desperately in need of a home believe the government plan to be unveiled today by Housing Minister Simon Coveney can achieve that fundamental need speedily and effectively will become a matter of intense social and political debate over the long months of Dáil holidays.

Among the main planks of the plan are specific schemes to tackle the social housing deficit and homelessness by rapidly building thousands of energy efficient, real houses with a 60-year lifespan rather than modular units.