Property

The Irish Times asks this morning if the property market has bottomed out. The simple answer has to be No. No matter where one goes there is a stock pile of empty properties, estimates suggest that there may be as many as 200, 000 vacant properties in Ireland. The market can only begin to recover when there is demand for this stock pile, yesterday the High Court ordered the repossession of many homes, yet the High Court is the last place to hear such matters. Many people have simply handed back their keys and the banks have began leasing the properties back to the original purchasers as there is no demand. The Government have done nothing to help the situation as their focus has been on bailing out their buddies in the Banks and the building trade while home owners are allowed to go to the wall. The Government had even put in place legislation that allowed Government Ministers to claim Tax credit for second homes in Dublin that they did not even have. Yes Government Ministers were allowed to claim a tax credit of 5,500 Euro on a second home that many of them did not even own, this while ordinary people were and are being put to the street. This government has failed beyond the comprehension of decent hard working people, this Government has feathered its own nest and the nests of its buddies while ordinary working people have lost their jobs and their homes. Jack O Connor did yesterday offer an alternative direction for this countries economic recovery, however, as it does not include bailing out bankers and property speculators it is unlikely to be even taken seriously by this inept Government.