Éire / Ireland

Good article. This is the problem of "small government", as I see it. In our case it means "small vision".

I remember travelling around Europe a good few years ago. Usually when I travelled, people would be positive about Ireland and it even kicked off some really spontaneous and positive memories. That changed when Ireland, as data commissioner, was seen to have betrayed other citizens in the EU by helping US companies break privacy rights of EU citizens. We also obfuscated access to justice for europeans. We went from being seen as a friendly small nation to foot soldiers of Uncle Sam's corporatism. I don't think we have recovered from that aspect of reputational damage, and the current Fine Gael + far-right partnership the EU don't bode well for the future.

I don't see how FFG can be convinced to change their approach when they keep getting voted back in by the electorate (although in dwindling numbers). I think our only hope is that the opposition can make compelling enough argument to convince voters to break the habit of a lifetime, before the foreign disinformation campaigns do.

Other factors contribute to the housing crisis, of course, many of which the government seems unable or unwilling to overcome: an overreliance on private investment in housing, numerous planning delays, and the exit of large property developers after the 2008 crash.

I visited Dublin about 10 years ago and was surprised at the skyline. No tall buildings. The tallest at the time I believe was about 16 or 17 stories. I was told by a local about the strong opposition as well as laws restricting the height of buildings. I always wondered how a metropolis like Dublin could continue to grow without growing "up" for greater housing density. Dublin has fantastic blend public transportation with the trolley, tram, and train. However, with without the ability to increase residential density, this meant that the costs of services would have to increase substantially to grow a population base "outward" instead of "upward".

After reading the article, and the citation of the housing crisis becoming worse, I checked to see if anything had changed about the opinion about growing "up". My quick google search shows that the newest tallest building at 22 stories (not residential BTW) is being criticized for ruining the look of the city. So it looks like the opinion still holds.

Is the lack of new highly dense housing a common topic regarding a way to address the lack of housing?