The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) criticizes the Irish government based on the new apartment guidelines
ICP, 15 March 2018
The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) released a statement following the issue of Irish government’s housing guidelines proposing solutions for the country’s housing crisis as a consequence of population increase and accommodation needs of people related to that. The people of Ireland today are facing raising rents and increasingly unaffordable houses, as well as restrictions for those who apply for housing credits - as one can expect from a system “based on the needs and the greed of builders and property speculators, both domestic and foreign”. The statement interprets the solutions being put forward by the Government and the state as “exacerbating the crisis, fuelling speculation, and raising rents and property prices”.
Blaming the initiative of the government in favor of property owners, the general secretary of the CPI Eugene McCartan, said: “Every revision of the minimum standards merely sets back the building of apartments, as profit-driven developers and speculators go back to the drawing-board to squeeze yet more profit out of each design. Instead of this profit-driven race to the bottom, cheered on by those who are meant to be regulating the industry, we need a comprehensive scheme of public housing, to provide income-linked rental accommodation to every citizen who wants it.”