Mick Clifford: Instinct is to throw tax breaks at housing crisis and hope they work

This far into the housing emergency, there are more urgent priorities than tax breaks for developers, yet it seems to be the Government’s only tactic

Tax breaks have a place in the housing market. Recurring nightmares from the overuse and abuse of such breaks during the Celtic Tiger years have rendered the policy toxic, but there is a firm basis for using these breaks as an incentive. 

Niall Muldoon brings to mind the line from a Bob Dylan song. “You don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows”. 

Muldoon, the Ombudsman for Children, was the interviewee last week on the podcast I present for this newspaper. One of the items discussed was the impact of homelessness on children, a topic which Mr Muldoon says leaves him “extremely angry”.