Madam, - Almost 70,000 houses were built last year. Are we to be proud of this record? How can we accept the fact that over half of the houses built are so-called holiday homes when we have homeless families in hostels and B&Bs? Can we celebrate because more houses were built here than in the UK, Spain or Germany when almost 50,000 families are on local authority waiting lists and have little or no chance of ever being housed?
The average cost of a house in Dublin is over €300,000, well beyond the means of low-income households, many living in insecure, low-standard, private rented accommodation with little or no rights. What little assistance they have through a rent supplement has been drastically cut this year. Will the fact that 2003 was the ninth year of record housing output have any impact on their lives? I don't think so. - Yours, etc.,
STEPHEN LARGE,
Dublin Services Co-ordinator,
Threshold,
Stoneybatter,
Dublin 7.