The decline of SF?

Nobody thinks SF are in government

Everyone knows now that SF are a huge part of the problem with housing

When a FG member was caught taking brides to remove planning objection, they got removed from the party and will never be in it again

When SF run a campaign for years to block housing for political gain they reward the politicians

SF are so incompetent they don't even realise how this looks

Change 😂

https://www.independent.ie/news/mary-lou-mcdonald-among-objectors-to-1600-apartment-build-to-rent-development-in-her-dublin-constituency/40802647.html

We shall see - I expect the issue of FGs length of tenure is going to be a substantial issue come what may. To put it in context, one of our children was becoming a teenager in 2011, asking questions about the election and commented at the time that all they'd ever known since birth was a Fianna Fáil government. All they've known since is Fine Gael governments and now in their late 20s.

Put it like that and you can be quite sure, many will conclude FGs time is up and that's that.

boom

quick look over at that

Does the playbook ever change

Is there any falsehoods? Nope.

The majoroty of folks in the country are still doing very well financially/socially etc.

There are unhappy people whom would like to see change, but overall, they would appear to still be a minority.

For every person that deicdes that FGs time is up, there are another 2 or 3 that are happy with the status quo & want FFG to remain in power.

You only need to look at the local elections to see that.

FG have more first preference votes than SF, the Greens, Labour and the Soc Dems put together.

I think anyone that's already bought a house and has a decent career is happy with the status quo.

Particularly when the leader of SF says house prices will be €300,000.

If you look at a population pyramid, there's a bulge of people over 35.

The majority of these people have settled down and bought a house.

100%, the vast majority under the age of 35 are clearly not happy with the status quo. I'd assume most here who are saying "things are fine" are homeowners.

The 300k Dublin houses was not the wisest of statements and I'd like to think MMLD's roll back last week was actually a clarification that this should be the "affordable housing" cost.

"Affordable housing" under the current model would cost myself and my partner (on decent wages) 415k in Swords with the Government having a 10% stake in it (not First Home Scheme). This surely cannot be seen as suitable "affordable housing".

The majoroty of folks in the country are still doing very well financially/socially etc.

There are unhappy people whom would like to see change, but overall, they would appear to still be a minority.

For every person that decides that FGs time is up, there are another 2 or 3 that are happy with the status quo & want FFG to remain in power.

If the majority are happy with the status quo as stated above (2/3) then yes a lot of people would appear to think that things are fine.

Exactly.

Home ownership is 70% in Ireland, very slightly about the european average.

Most people here have a good standard of living and the employment opportunities in Ireland, and especially Dublin, are world class.

There are problems, yes. But there are a lot of positives and there are a lot of people that are doing very well.

Household wealth has doubled over the last decade and stands at over a trillion euro. Thats some figure for a population of 5.3 or 5.4 million.

This is where as stated earlier it all comes back to the Us vs Them, "Haves vs the Have nots" human mentality.

I'm not going to assume that 70% of people are completely happy with the status quo as there's probably a decent % that have adult children living at home with them that they wish could have their own place but there's a lot more home owners voting for the status quo than renters/people living at home.

This is my opinion.

Things could be better but it's easier for things to get worse.

For all their faults, FG have created an excellent economy, the best in our history, the envy of most of the world.

I'm old enough to remember when the majority of young people had to emigrate.

You can pursue your chosen career in almost any field now in Ireland except things that we don't have natural resources for like mining or petrochemicals.

We've very strong jobs market in IT, pharma, finance, tech, medical devices.

We even have a film and TV industry which looks like it's about to grow strongly in next few years.

We're obviously lacking in some areas like car manufacturing and indigenous industries.

We also have to be mindful that AI could eat a lot of jobs in IT and customer service.

I could see huge layoffs in the next decade from the IT multinationals.

Most people I know feel like this.

The status quo ain't brilliant but they're better than SF.

If SF are so brilliant, they should sort NI out first.

The people who think SF will make the country better are the same people who think Emmet Kirwan is insightful.

At the same time, I can see how anyone from a deprived community would think SF are the better option and that FFG are only serving the middle class.

Also FFG should've got a handle on housing a decade ago. They had all the data and could've projected this.

They should've been do everything to make jobs in construction as attractive as possible. The labour shortage is one major bottleneck.

I think it's human nature to think change can improve things but in reality it can just make things worse in this instance.

I understand the prospects that are available to my generation and the one's coming after me and they are 10 fold better than what my parents had on offer to them.

That isn't the major issue for us, the issue is that despite all these opportunities on offer with decent salaries they aren't sufficient to purchase a home. Back in the day, that you can probably remember, a couple working in near minimum wage jobs (Supermarkets etc) would be given a mortgage and could buy a home. Now a couple with 2 good jobs are struggling to get a mortgage that will come close to purchasing a home in Dublin.

For example Couple earning 90k a year can get a max mortgage of 360k, with deposit their budget is around 400/420k. Houses in Poppintree and Swords asking prices around 375, selling for 480 mark.

It's not only purchasing properties that is an issue, the rental market is in the toilet too, 3 beds for 2.5k+ a month. These major price increases and failure in housing policies have come in successive FF/FG/FFG governments and we're tired of this status quo as in my lifetime bar the 08 crash, nothing has changed in the housing market apart from an increase in the older generations owning 2nd properties and becoming LL's to top up their retirement pot at the expense of the younger generation.

I'd respectfully point out to you that not every young or not so young Irish person can or is able to work in IT, pharma, finance, tech, medical devices, TV or films etc etc

Any population has working citizens with a range of abilities, needs and ambition. Both at higher paid levels that you instance but also at lower paid grades in retail, childcare, hospitality, labouring etc etc. And a good many with no employment and on social housing lists/ supports etc

There seems to be a smug view about characterised by FG and other parties that sure Irish people will do all the well paid jobs and we'll bring in loads of non nationals to do the poorly paid jobs that 'no Irish person wants to do' and sure we'll all be grand.

Whereas in truth, this influx is now competing for exactly the same jobs and housing as Irish people who already suit this lower paid work. And then you wonder why there are protests and places burnt?

You'd really want to wake up. And this disease has affected Sinn Féin too.

FFG have created another property price boom. This time with a housing crisis thrown in. That suits property owners and anyone else creaming it. FFG know their audience. You cant beat the old Irish obsession with property / property prices. It's a banker. Those who are flush once again (mostly based on debt but thats never mattered before and doesnt seem to now either) dont want to know about the dangers of another bubble. This supersedes all. Dont be ruining the buzz. The new white Range Rovers are flying about the place again. FFG are back. Let the good times roll.

I agree. The country should be very everyone.

That's why social housing, cost rental etc are very important. Also medical cards, decent minimum wage, free education etc..

We do have a very good social welfare system.

We still have a labour shortage so the "influx" aren't competing for any jobs. Dublin Bus is still struggling to hire drivers.

People are not stupid, as I said they are aware Ireland has issues, they will also be aware other countries have similar issues. Housing is not just an issue in Ireland

It's not black & white which is what you seem to suggest

You can see Ireland has issues, you can see the government are trying to fix, you can also realise that the plans that others propose will make those issues worse and not better.

By "struggling to hire drivers", it's implicit I meant capable drivers.

The issue is that we can't see Government attempting to fix the housing crisis which has occurred under multiple FF/FG and now FFG's tenure.

As I replied to a previous poster earlier "It's not only purchasing properties that is an issue, the rental market is in the toilet too, 3 beds for 2.5k+ a month. These major price increases and failure in housing policies have come in successive FF/FG/FFG governments and we're tired of this status quo as in my lifetime bar the 08 crash, nothing has changed in the housing market apart from an increase in the older generations owning 2nd properties and becoming LL's to top up their retirement pot at the expense of the younger generation."

We're fed up with the status quo FF/FG/FFG governments who have no incentive to adapt their policies as they have the home owner vote and are unwilling to do anything that would jeopardies it.

Just an FYI, I'm not 100% pro Sinn Fein, I tend to judge each politician on their own set of beliefs and policies.

There are examples of SF blocking housing developments, as there have been in all political parties, there's plenty in Dundrum, Ballsbridge, Sandymount, Clontarf, Howth etc that have all blocked developments. Your point that it SF are one of the biggest reasons for house prices rising is ludicrous.

I don't understand how people can blame the opposition (only became majority opp in 2020) over the current and previous Governments in FF/FG who were each other's largest opposition for the past near 3 decades in house prices rising.

It appears that some are just anti certain parties inc PBP and SD's even when they had very little control over any policies.

SF ran DCC from 2014 to 2019, got voted in to provide housing. The government handed them millions to achieve this, 300m or more I think off top of head

They ended up with less unit in 2019 than in 2014, plus they ran up a rent arrears of over 40m with one tenant evicted. This was during a huge population growth in Dublin

It was clear to me and other at this stage SF ran DCC into the ground to make the housing crisis worse, hoping it would get to a situation like today.

You name a development and you will have a SF member blocking it if possible, that is not a coincidence, that is a strategic plan from SF to make the housing crisis as bad as possible

SF are completely incompetent. Already provided plenty of evidence

They got elected into DCC to build units and ended up with less, do you see that as a party that can claim to be competent?

Like the SF supporters than run 20+ accounts online to abuse people, do you think that is a skill that these people put on their CV?

Like any of these thread, we get 101 posts of nonsense from you trying to shut down anyone having a conversation on a topic. This thread is descending into the same mess.

But if new home construction rises at a faster rate under FFG than it does under SF, surely FFG will still see their way out of the deficit first; on the proviso that the labour market stays the same.

Also remember FFG are upping the new home targets towards 50k over the next year or so.

In short, construction is happening. It isnt fast enough, but it is getting faster.

And it is happening faster than it would if SF were in power.

It's hard to frame a positive argument for a change to a SF govt with respect to housing construction.

We are also building better houses, plus we have now an active regeneration program of houses which was never the case before. This has to be seen as a positive

I still think, especially in cities, we have too many houses and not enough apartments been built