A hotel in every village?

[EarlyBird]

Irelands climate will be that wrecking ball. Apparently a home, hotel or any detached development left empty for more than a couple of years will be rendered uninhabitable anyway.

Many of them were uninhabitable the day they were sold. Corner cutting, substandard materials and dodgy workmanship. I know a housing estate that was built on a an old quarry (out of use for about 30 years), the quarry was filled in with a mixture of rubble and soil and about 20 houses were built on it. That was six years ago, now some of the houses are literally sinking into the ground and are cracking like humpty dumpty. I have seen two year old apartments with the plaster coming off the walls in chunks, inside and outside. I have been in houses where every step and word next door could be heard. I have seen plumbing and electric work that would make Jesus weep, the list goes on. Imagine the state these kips will be like in five or ten years time.

[Ted Maul]

Many of them were uninhabitable the day they were sold. Corner cutting, substandard materials and dodgy workmanship. I know a housing estate that was built on a an old quarry (out of use for about 30 years), the quarry was filled in with a mixture of rubble and soil and about 20 houses were built on it. That was six years ago, now some of the houses are literally sinking into the ground and are cracking like humpty dumpty. I have seen two year old apartments with the plaster coming off the walls in chunks, inside and outside. I have been in houses where every step and word next door could be heard. I have seen plumbing and electric work that would make Jesus weep, the list goes on. Imagine the state these kips will be like in five or ten years time.

And Government grants are available to improve energy efficiency in houses built as recently as 2006. Was it to much to expect that the job was done right first time around?
SEI - Homeowner FAQ

[irishpancake]

Dillinger, cant remember who said it but it was in a radio interview, when one of them was being put under pressure over the question of the downturn/property bubble etc.

Prolly that well-known Hotelier, Politician, Developer, Country and Western Entrepreneur and Musician FFailure Senator Donie Cassidy sometimes T.D.

[cactusflower]

I agree fully with everything you say about joined up thinking etc. However, no one was shouting stop 6,7,8,9 years ago when all of these setion 23 etc propertys were being built. We were all enjoying the excesses of an inflated property bubble.

Now with the benefit of hindsight we see the folly of our ways. We are in the world of trouble and the constant sniping and reminders as to how we fuked up will do nothing for us in the future.


"The government should only intervene where the public good is being inhibited by some market failure, not just wherever they thought their buddies could make a quick buck."

The private sector did finance the building of these developments and got tax breaks to do it. There was short term public good served by thesedevelopments. Everyone felt delighted to be earning money on the site, shopkeepers were delighted with the extra revenue in their tills, builders providers etc We all lapped it up for the short term and now we are going to pay.

I just think the constant sniping about how we got into this position is going to do nothing to get us out of this mess.

I assure you there were people shouting about it, but most people wouldn't have had an overall picture of what was going on across the whole country and the extent to which normal business decision making had been abandoned.

The tax incentives were cooked up between FF (I'd say the CIF had a hand in it too) and the Department of Finance. No one took an overview and they didn't go near the Department of the Environment for advice.

It was intended to be an enormous hand out to friends in the construction sector. How ironic.

[YellowRedGreen]

And Government grants are available to improve energy efficiency in houses built as recently as 2006. Was it to much to expect that the job was done right first time around?
SEI - Homeowner FAQ

Building regulations for residential property were updated in 2008, and are to be further improved in 2010 and again a few years later. The urgency to update the regs by the Greens might give some idea how much importance it was given under previous governments..