Madam, - All those spec-built houses currently standing empty represent dead capital and toxic debt. Would it perhaps make sense for the State to invest in them, liberating the banks by getting rid of the toxic debt? And then set up an agency, perhaps via local government, to manage them for the rental market, with tenants having an option to purchase?
Are there perhaps retired people wanting to escape the Dublin transport jungle when they decide to downsize? Do we need perhaps more "retirement village" outside Dublin? Might this process liberate space in Dublin and reduce the long-distance commuting energy load? Do we perhaps need an inter-departmental agency to evaluate such a process, and then perhaps encourage it to happen? - Yours, etc,