What to do with the ghost estates

Madam, – So there are 43,000 homes (built or half-built) lying dormant across the State, while houses are being repossessed …

Madam, – So there are 43,000 homes (built or half-built) lying dormant across the State, while houses are being repossessed on a daily basis by those wonderful people in financial institutions thus putting severe pressure on local councils to re-house tenants after they have been evicted.

Why not simply draft in all those unemployed builders and tradespeople to finish off these estates with a top-up of their social welfare entitlements as an incentive, and implement a minimal and affordable rent to the dispossessed? This way each county council solves its respective housing shortages with minimal capital outlay.

After all the Government, via Nama, probably owns most of these estates. – Yours, etc,

DARA LYNCH,

Bloomfield Avenue,

Portobello,

Dublin 8.