Irish Examiner view: Neglect of vacant properties is stupid

Some of the derelict houses in St Mary's Park, Limerick. 

Any government in a small but affluent country like this can only achieve so much. It may not have the heft to set terms around something like, say, Brexit. 

There are, however, myriad areas where capacity is diluted by determination lite. 

When the day of reckoning comes, as it will, the incumbents, particularly Fine Gael, will find themselves on a very sticky wicket. They are in power for more than a decade yet the housing scandal is unresolved. 

Indeed it may even be accelerating, limiting job creation and, at the same time, condemning the most vulnerable to a kind of half-life in unsuitable accommodation.

Figures showing there are more vacant council houses in Limerick than there are homeless people typify this determination lite. Like every urban centre in this Republic, Limerick is struggling to match capacity with need. 

Despite that more than half of Limerick City and County Councils’ near 300 vacant properties need refurbishment. There are many reasons for this but none justify this daft, tragic situation.

Unfortunately, this wanton failure, this neglect means that come election time this issue will have disproportionate consequences. 

It will open the door for the kind of change most of those who support Ireland’s conservative parties dread. By tolerating this scandal old, property-first Ireland assures its own destruction. 

This is the very epitome of stupid, short-sightedness especially as the housing crisis is so very fixable.