Sir, – Sean Brosnan states that the latest census figures show that about 150,000 premises are empty in Ireland (Letters, December 21st). He fails to give any context to this figure. Thankfully, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) does.
On its website the CSO states: “Census vacancy should not be used to measure long-term vacancy or the number of properties potentially available for reuse.”
The reality is that there aren’t tens of thousands of homes ready to be occupied at the drop of a hat.
The number of vacant homes in Ireland is a great political football.
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It suits many individuals and organisations/parties to inflate and exaggerate the real figure. This leads to theoretical solutions to complicated problems such as housing being blurted out on the airwaves and in the media.
Meanwhile, actually solving the problem is a little more difficult. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN CULLEN,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
