We learnt little from rates swizz - Warning on land shortage

THE decision by Jack Lynch’s government after the 1977 general election to abolish domestic rates may seem almost as remote as the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 — Catholic Emancipation — but the legacy of that grand, bread-and-circuses swizz is alive and well.

Axing that funding disempowered local authorities, drove a coach and four through local democracy, and, worst of all, gave reckless populism a toehold in politics that is still doing damage today — as shown by the idealogical fluidity of Lynch’s successor, Micheál Martin, on water charges.

Another legacy of that emasculation is the prospect that metropolitan Cork may run out of land for house building within 18 months because so very little properly serviced land remains undeveloped. This led to Tim Lucey, the chief executive of Cork County Council, warning yesterday that the housing availability in the areas around Cork city is more critical than it is in Dublin — despite there being enough zoned land to support building plans for the next decade.

The council has asked for Government funding, once collected through rates, to build roads, supply water and all of the basic needs, if plans to build 3,000 houses a year for 12 years are to be realised. It is bizarre that an authority like this does not have the autonomy to carry out this work. It is bizarre, and tragic too, that we are repeating Lynch’s terrible error by pretending that water charges are unnecessary.