Forming the next Irish Government - policies and personalities

Our governments have been elected by us.

There is no escaping the personal responsibility side of things. I have a PHEV, cost me a few grand extra, had to make cutbacks to pay for it. Installed solar panels, better insulation. Got rid of the second car and accepted the longer time it takes on public transport.

Savings on electricity and the second car will pay for all this in a few years, all it took was a little personal responsibility.

This is what people don't understand, preventing climate change is going to cause hardship, less hardship than not preventing it, but most people won't accept that. They want to continue on their merry way, doing what they have always done, building houses at the end of boreens, polluting our rivers and lakes with fertiliser, driving big cars, ignoring public transport because it isn't convenient, failing to invest in climate change mitigation etc.

disagree, most actually know we re in deep sh1t, especially if we dont get off fossil fuels, people are not stupid, they know, we ve been told so for well over 50 years now, i.e we know!

most do actually care about this, but the reality is, they cant change, they simply dont have the resources to change, they dont have the ability to take on anymore debt and the risks involved in changing to the alternatives, they dont have the time to use alternatives such as public transport, and in many cases, it simply doesnt exist!

again, most countries have been trying this approach of 'personal responsibility', and its not working, due to the above mentioned issues….

yes many houses have been built down boreens, but most actually arent, most are now being built in bigger towns and cities, and most are now being sold at hyper inflated prices, this is ultimately where the problem lies, why most simply wont be changing over to the alternatives anytime soon, as most of their financial resources are going towards debt repayments!

was only speaking to one of these new young home owners yesterday, upon purchasing, wanted to commit to paneling the house, upon realising no grant available, idea now gone, and they may never rethink it again, why you ask, theyre already heavily indebted!

oh and what car did they buy, fossil fueled of course, again, too much uncertainty with ev's!

public transport, ha! virtually none available to them during the snow, this is a common occurrence in rural and semi rural areas of ireland, again, lack of state investment!

yes many young people do indeed do such, but many simply dont, particularly those struggling with rental and mortgage payments, again, we are expecting them to take on even more debt, in order to meet our environmental requirements and needs, it wont work, cause again, they cant!

again, thats not how reality works, sometimes people must travel under such conditions, due to work and life commitments etc, cause if they dont, they may find themselves eventually unemployed, this is how reality is for many, i.e. taking time off is simply not possible, and the fact many are heavily indebted, no show to work means no pay, so…..

we dont live in this fluffy world, whereby all can simply do what needs to be done, or should be done!

Or a generation who see it as impossible to ever own a house are spending their money now rather than attempting to save for something that they can't see happening?

O OK then. Have a look at the machines these lads turn up to work in. Even sleepyhead tried to con the people on his driving habits. Have a look at the background of most of our rural politicians and see how green their lives have been or are.

Again, I'm not saying that green policies aren't needed, just saying that endlesslessly raising taxes without providing the services needed to change the situation isn't the answer.

Your snipe at boreens is just a pathetic little quip at where people find themselves living for various reasons. One of them perhaps is even govt made, their housing program is in effect pushing people to rehouse in the only place there's a bit of housing available, and that's rurally. I know five couples in my local area relocated from Dublin and surrounds to it.

Life is short.

Fook that.

Of the 60,000 average doing the Leaving Cert, some will emigrate, some will inherit and not need a mortgage, some will work in high-paying bonus jobs and with help from parents not need a mortgage, an awful will be in couples when they decide to buy. The 32k is close to meeting demand.

I would be interested in knowing if you can point to a time in Ireland where it was possible for a single person to buy a four-bed semi-detatched, the most they could ever afford was a small one-bedroom, but that isn't good enough now.

Edit: And of course, some of those, will qualify for social housing.

They are all couples, which only strengthens my point. Single people were rarely given mortgages in those days.

I didn't ask when it was possible for a single salary to be enough to purchase a house, I asked when was it easy for a single person to purchase a four-bedroomed house. If you rocked up in the late 70s as a single 25-year old wanting to buy a semi-detatched four-bedroom house, you would have been laughed out of the bank.

Semantics comparing a single salary versus a single person. The point remains - on a single salary it's apporaching impossible to afford a decent house.

Not really, back in the day, single people accepted that they wouldn't get such a mortgage. That reduced the demand for property, many lived in cheap bedsits, less than half the size of a minimum one-bedroomed flat these days.

People's demands and expectations have changed, and while government has followed suit in setting minimum standards in response to democratic pressure, the ability of the country to meet those changed demands and expectations hasn't kept pace. We would have no problem housing everyone if the housing standards and expectations of the 1970s were acceptable today.

…the main reasons for our now highly dysfunctional property markets has in fact been largely due to a more global movement of financialisation of our property markets, this approach has been promoted by successive governments both here in ireland and across most advanced nations around the world, whereby it was promoted that states withdraw from providing critical societal needs such as housing, and promote more market based sectors, in particular the fire sectors(finance, insurance and real estate), hence why these sectors play a far more significant role in our modern economies, i.e. hence why investment funds play a large role here in ireland etc.

a part of why we now live longer has in fact been directly related to increased living standards, including the quality of homes we now live in, by advocating for less, or a return to previous generational standards, effectively advocates for a reduction in living standards, which in turn could lead to a reduction in life expectancy for some!

If you are interested in both equality and sustainable living, you have to accept that if the world is to become a more equal and sustainable place for everyone to live in, and you accept a timeframe of several centuries to achieve this, then the living standards of people in Ireland will have to fall gradually but continuously for many generations. If you want equality in a shorter timeframe, you will have to accept sharper drops in living standards.

That is the problem with balancing equality and sustainability.

The rental accommodation in the 1980s wasn't reasonable, maybe reasonable on price, but that was because the accommodation was way way below standard. When I think of the place my wife and I rented with our first child, I shudder in rememberance. Still took a significant chunk of our salaries.