There is a paradox at the heart of the current economic boom. It may well be that many people have never had it so good. But it is also the case that many young couples are increasingly being denied a right which their parents took for granted - namely, the right to own their own homes. An article in today's editions cogently describes this modern phenomenon; as property prices surge young first-time buyers are "watching their dream of home ownership implode." In Dublin, there is, apparently, only a limited range of housing available even for those with two incomes and up to £100,000 to spend. Indeed, the EBS building society - in announcing its annual results yesterday - said it had to discourage many loan applications from first-time buyers who cannot afford a new house at current prices. The expectation is that things may get worse before they get better. With a further round of interest rate cuts likely - and with the economy performing strongly - property prices could increase sharply. To its credit, the Government recently appointed a team of consultants to examine the factors fuelling the inflation in the housing market, especially in the Dublin area. Its report is expected shortly. In the interim, the Dublin city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, has made a very useful contribution to the debate on housing needs by signalling that the current restrictions on building heights may be dropped when the new city draft development plan is unveiled shortly. Mr Fitzgerald is responding to pressure from the development lobby, and others, who insist that residential densities must be increased in order to make better use of scarce urban land.
The prospect of American-style skyscrapers on Dublin's skyline is not to everyone's taste. There will be concerns on aesthetic grounds: Liberty Hall, the city's tallest building and the State's best-known skyscraper is not a much-admired edifice. There will be other concerns; that high-rise buildings will fundamentally alter the character of the city and/or foster new urban ghettos in which crime could flourish. Part of the problem that the planners will face is the instinctive prejudice against high-rise buildings in this State. High-rise housing of a kind common in most other EU states and in North America is still, it appears, too readily associated in the public mind with deprivation and other social ills. But there is no objective reason why tasteful, well-designed high-rise homes cannot form part of the solution to the housing problem in Dublin city. Clearly, some kind of radical departure is needed with an estimated 30,000-plus new dwellings required to meet housing needs until the year 2001. The unpalatable fact is that the levels of housing density in Dublin and our major cities are very low when compared to other EU states. An increase in the availability of building land is the most pressing requirement. But a readiness to consider a high-rise future must also form part of the solution.