State lands revenue wasted on housing
This land is owned by the State that's you and me and here is the Government giving our assets away for free. This at a time when the Government has cut back on resources to the most needy, when there are over 50,000 on the local government housing lists, and when disabled people's grants are curtailed because of lack of Government resources.
Surely it is financially and morally wrong to be doing this.
Would it not seem more appropriate that the pathetic amounts given to the disabled be increased by allocating some of the monies tied up in these lands? Not a day seems to go by without more cutbacks being announced. It seems to be acceptable for the Taoiseach to bask in the reflective glow of the Special Olympics while at the same time overseeing savage cutbacks on the most needy in our society.
Is this housing initiative of any real benefit to the State? Very few will gain, apart from the developers and builders. I hardly think that house prices are going to be affected by this. In short, there's no real benefit. Let's put scarce resources to work where a real difference can be made.
If we are going to do something about the housing crisis, let's have some planning, not badly thought out, badly conceived one-off initiatives.
Kieran Kennedy,
Chairperson,
Irish Progressive Alliance For Autism,
Bessborough Centre,
Blackrock,
Cork
