Sir, – It is profoundly depressing to see a last-minute legal challenge has been lodged against the Land Development Agency’s (LDA’s) flagship residential scheme in Dundrum.
The project is set to deliver 934 badly needed new homes, of which 753 are to be designated as affordable/cost-rental and 181 as social homes.
Furthermore, the scheme has been significantly amended from its original design following extensive consultation with local groups and residents. As a neighbour living in the area, I can confirm it now enjoys broad support from the local community.
I appreciate the issue of judicial reviews is being considered by the Government and a remedy can’t come fast enough.
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Otherwise, we face the prospect of ongoing stagnation while our children stay in Australia unable to find somewhere to live at home. – Yours, etc,
JOHN LOMBARD,
Goatstown,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – While our housing crisis is already well documented, Lorcan Sirr’s opinion in last Saturday’s edition of your newspaper makes for very disturbing reading indeed (“If 36,000 new houses were built last year, why were only 58 sold to buyers in Dublin?” Opinion, February 21st).
To learn that “a paltry 58 new houses and 150 new apartments were sold to ordinary buyers in Dublin city in 2025 from an output of 4,521” is bad enough.
But to also learn that “forward-counting manipulates the (completion) figures to flatter official policy” and that “the levers are pulled to make sure the numbers fit the narrative” is absolutely scandalous and down right insulting to all those trapped in the current housing crisis.
While it would appear the current crisis stems from the 2008 crash, it is clear to me that the decision to replace direct State-led construction towards private, market-led, build-to-rent development was one grave miscalculation that is now undermining economic and social stability at an alarming rate with dire consequences for future generations. – Yours, etc,
PETER GAUGHAN,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Anything that the Government can do to get the job done is one thing but even if additional help is given to the construction industry as explained in your second leader, (February 26th), and despite the pleasant-sounding comments from Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers, the fundamental issues that have bedevilled the country for far too long still remain.
Yes, we have long suffered a lack of skilled workers plus poor project management, but the continuing failure to understand the key principle of on-time delivery is to blame. Poor and late planning plus judicial view have played their part, but until it is recognised that completion of the project, whatever it is, depends on hitting the targets on the dates set out in the overall plan, nothing will change in the public sector.
To improve housing numbers, the Government should offer incentives to the private sector to help the few public sector developers who undertake this role; we’ve got tonnes of cash in our sovereign wealth funds so let’s use it and give young people some confidence that they can look forward rather sooner to that purchase of a house they’ve been dreaming of for far too long. – Yours, etc,
ALASTAIR CONAN,
Coulsdon,
England.
Sir, – If residential rents rise as expected over the next few years as the new rental laws kick in, then, assuming inflation/interest rates remain relatively steady, the capital value of rental properties will also have to rise to maintain their current percentage rental yields.
This will progressively drive up prices for all properties where renting is an option, with repercussions right across the entire housing market – just another unintended (or intended) consequence of stop-start, short-sighted housing strategies. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN FLANAGAN,
Blackrock,
Dublin.
