People need homes, not promises

ALMOST a year has passed since Taoiseach Bertie Ahern unveiled his radical plan to build 10,000 affordable houses for low and middle-income workers but the stark reality is that so far not a single unit has got off the ground.

It is a scenario that is symptomatic of an administration with a deplorable track record for making promises to suit its own political ends but seldom come to fruition. As it transpired, Mr Ahern's offer was critical to securing workers' acceptance of the new Sustaining Progress pay deal.

Not surprisingly, the unions saw this as an ideal way of securing badly needed houses for middle-income workers who were priced out of the market as property costs went through the roof.