Irish Examiner view: Housing may be the next vote decider

Housing has become a generational issue for many Irish people.

Not only is housing a problem for the thousands desperate to find a home, it is potentially an election-decider. File Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

With the ard fheis season largely over and the battle lines drawn ahead of the next election — whenever it might take place — the single biggest issue facing the current Government, along with those wishing the electorate to place them in power instead, is housing.

In the 15 years since the 2008 crash, which signalled the end of Ireland’s last building boom, housing has been the single biggest political issue of the modern era and that does not look like changing anytime soon as the Government struggles to match demand with supply.

Taoiseach Simon Harris says he is acutely aware of the problems facing the Government, and has set a target to build 250,000 homes between 2025 and 2030.

Though this has been described in some quarters as ambitious, and it could be argued it is on current house-building levels, it is not nearly enough. The question is not what can be done to achieve this target, but what can be done to surpass it?

There are also concerns that many of the planned developments are large multi-unit schemes, which take much longer to complete than houses. The Irish Examiner has been publishing stories of “Generation Rent” in recent days, and they offer an eyeopening assessment of how bad the situation is for people unable to afford their own home.

The crisis has led to groups trying to take matters into their own hands, such as the Cork Student Housing Co-operative.

This co-operative comprises of a group of students and alumni from third-level institutions in Cork city, all working to provide not-for-profit student accommodation.

While we know that Irish construction activity grew in March this year for the first time since June 2023, the Government will be aware of the pitfalls of expecting “early-stage” commencements to quickly fill the gaps. This potentially presents Mr Harris with many pre-election headaches.

Not only is it a problem for the thousands desperate to find a home, it is potentially an election-decider. If the Coalition falls behind in its stated aims, public sentiment is going to waver when it comes to the ballot paper. This is an issue that affects every generation, from young people desperate for a roof over their heads to parents providing for children and grandchildren and to anyone paying a mortgage as costs rise.

This has become a generational issue for many Irish people, and patience with Government’s policy thus far has — understandably — worn thin.

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Trump on trial

There was a wearisome sense of foreboding in the air yesterday as the presumptive Republican nominee for November’s US presidential election was brought before a court in New York accused of fraudulently paying hush money to an erotic film star and a former Playboy model.

The world watched to see if the first ever holder of America’s highest office to be prosecuted in a criminal trial could finally be held accountable for seamy dealings unbeholden of any man, let alone one attempting to regain control of the White House.

There was a smell of fear about the candidate as he entered the Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday to face the charges emanating from the fact that he paid women to stay silent about affairs they had had. That these women are now central to his future political, financial, and personal wellbeing, is a fact not lost on Donald Trump or the millions watching.

There is no little irony in the fact that Trump is finally facing accountability for his actions. It is not something he has often been subjected to in his gilded life as the inheritor of a property fortune and a controversial developer in his own right. Neither as businessman nor politician has he faced criminal action.

However, there is a greater irony here for the narcissistic, misogynistic liar that is Trump, in that women have played such a huge role in bringing him to justice. Stormy Daniels (who will play such a big part in the proceedings), E Jean Carroll, Roberta Kaplan, Fani Willis, and Letitia James have all been instrumental in his ongoing legal woes.

Trump has routinely treated women as objects, targets, or supplicants who he can denigrate at will. As such, there is a certain karmic justice playing out in the courtroom at 100 Centre St in New York when a jury is finally selected and the trial can get under way, where he will face the wrath of at least one of the women he has treated with such distain.

Flight not fight

There was much brouhaha in February 2022 when the Government unveiled its grand plan to transform the Irish Defence Forces. Having picked the middle of three options aimed at restoring our army, navy, and air forces to a strength which would, in theory, allow them actually defend the country, that plan has now been labelled ‘inadequate’.

Lt Col Conor King, the general secretary of Raco, the representative association of commissioned officers, maintains that military personnel are not buying into the Government’s plan and are still leaving the forces in considerable numbers.

He said last week it was unsurprising that the Government chose a plan which would not deliver the capability required to deliver full-spectrum defence capabilities on a par with other sovereign European nations.

But while increases in the defence budget have soared to record levels — €1.23bn this year — they have come from a very low base and the fact remains that Irish defence spending is the lowest of any EU member state.

That has not convinced existing personnel and armed forces numbers have contracted further since the Government decision — by 1,000 to the current low of 7,500 — a situation which has meant there is only enough crew to allow a lone navy patrol boat to be operational at any given time.

As we have seen in recent times, there has been significant destabilising of geopolitical security globally, and if we are to be serious about our ability to protect Ireland’s sovereignty, we cannot ignore the levels of investment needed.