Irish Examiner view: We need urgent action to fix Ireland's housing crisis

The Housing Commission estimates that there is an underlying undersupply of over a quarter of a million homes in Ireland. File Picture: PA

The Housing Commission has said a “radical strategic reset of housing policy” is the only solution to the ongoing crisis in housing and accommodation.

It may sound strange to describe a call for a “radical strategic reset” as somehow understating the case, but it’s hard to avoid that conclusion here. The commission has submitted a report to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien which identifies “ineffective decision-making and reactive policy-making where risk-aversion dominates” as major challenges in the sector, adding: “These issues, together with external influences impacting housing dynamics, contribute to the volatility in supply, undermining affordability in the housing system”.

The report’s headline figure is proof of these difficulties: The commission estimates that there is an underlying undersupply of over a quarter of a million homes in Ireland. Even in a sector where numbers and statistics have the power to shock, this is a truly stunning figure, and one that does not augur well for the short- to medium-term when it comes to social cohesion. The lack of adequate accommodation has implications for mental health services, education, and children’s opportunities, employment prospects, traffic patterns — the areas affected roll on and on, combining and interacting to create more and more problems.

A separate issue came to light this week when the Department of Housing commented on a report it commissioned over four years ago. The department said the report found no evidence that Dublin City Council reimbursed building firms that paid protection money to criminals to provide security during the construction of houses in west Dublin.

Three contractors and an approved housing body paid thousands to criminals in 2016 and 2017 to stop their sites being damaged and staff being attacked; the report added that while senior management in DCC and the approved housing body did not know about the protection racket, they had not made any effort to find out what was going on when their employees were interviewed by gardaí.

When the Housing Commission refers to “external influences impacting housing dynamics” it is not referring to protection rackets, of course. But as an indication of the chaos in this sector, it could hardly be bettered.

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Tech CEO shows his arrogance

Those readers who have a creeping sense of nervousness about the lengthening shadow of artificial intelligence will feel vindicated — though even more nervous — by the news of actress Scarlett Johansson’s interaction with AI company OpenAI.

In a statement released on Monday, Ms Johansson, famous for movies such as The Avengers and Lost in Translation, revealed that she had been asked by OpenAI to voice the company chatbot, which reads text aloud. In a 2013 movie, Her, Ms Johansson played a similar role and the company was presumably seeking to build on that association.

She declined the company’s invitation, but when the new voice was revealed last week many observers, and listeners, felt it resembled the actress’ voice.

“When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered, and in disbelief that Mr Altman [OpenAI CEO Sam Altman] would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine,” Ms Johansson wrote in her statement.

“Mr Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word ‘her’ — a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human.”

She has hired legal representatives to pursue the matter, while OpenAI have paused the use of the voice “out of respect for Ms Johansson”, according to Mr Altman.

Arrogance and high-handedness we have come to associate with tech companies. It can come as no great shock that, in this case, the actress’ outright refusal to participate counted for so little when this company considered its options. One result of the contretemps is to publicise this feature of OpenAI and to advertise it for free around the world.

The fact that someone with money, power, and influence had to resort to legal action in this case however, is a serious concern. The resources available to Scarlett Johansson are not available to most if seeking redress in a similar situation.

This is significant with a company which might appear to be operating according to a credo which long predates AI: It’s easier to seek forgiveness than permission.

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Rise of the far right

Devotees of elaborate conspiracies may be interested in reports from Germany, where far-right plotters are on trial for planning to overthrow the state. They include a former estate agent known as Prince Heinrich XIII, his Russian girlfriend, a former judge, former soldiers, a metalworker, and a celebrity chef.

That may sound like the cast list from a broad farce, but the rise of the far right across Europe is no laughing matter when one considers the prominence of politicians such as Marine Le Pen in France, Viktor Orbán in Hungary, and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni.

Those three recently met in Madrid to plan on how to rally support to their cause in forthcoming European elections. Predictably, they and others like them bluster against immigration, ‘wokeness’, and the bureaucracy of the EU, but close observers have noted a subtle change in Meloni’s focus.

Foreign Policy magazine pointed out that where once the Italian prime minister advocated an Italian exit from the EU, now she appears to be manoeuvring to control right-wing parties in the European Parliament. If such a bid were successful, it could have serious repercussions across the EU — Ireland included.

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