A chara, - Dublin City Council's declaration of a housing emergency at its January meeting is welcome. The current housing crisis is neither accidental nor unpredictable. It is the result of the reckless sell-off of large land-banks by local authorities in the 1980s and early 1990s, the denial of adequate funding to local government for house construction, and widespread profiteering by land and property speculators, which has driven the cost of private housing way beyond the reach of working-class people. These huge profits were assisted by the fact that successive governments reneged on their obligation to provide funds for housing those unable to house themselves and failed to plan ahead for future housing needs.
Now that Dublin City Council has recognised that this is indeed a national emergency, it is to be hoped that the Government will heed the alarm bells and ensure that the housing crisis is dealt with and that long-term strategies ensure it can never happen again. - Is mise, Cllr Sean O'Cionnaith,
National spokesperson, National Association of Tenants Organisations, Meath Place, Dublin 8.