One important point not mentioned in the discussion of this has been the accumulation of vast parcels of land by venture capitalists during the last housing cri

One important point not mentioned in the discussion of this has been the accumulation of vast parcels of land by venture capitalists during the last housing crisis. There are people sitting on huge amounts of land that they acquired at knock-down prices during the government fire-sale. Media coverage has focused on the outright corruption alleged to have occurred in some cases (google NAMA and scandal) but even in the "legal" transfer of land the Irish taxpayers have effectively subsidized the purchase of these landbanks by private investors. It is probably time for compulsory purchase orders at prices fair to the taxpayers. Hopefully this will scare off other predators as Ireland becomes known as a bad place to do dirty business in. ((I am dreaming... that will never happen... the Irish public by-and-large are neoliberal true believers... these are the fruits of their dearly held ideology))