Forming the next Irish Government - policies and personalities

They are not irrelevant. You could not rent a three-bedroomed house or bigger in Dublin in the 1980s, all that was available was bedsits and a small number of apartments.

they wont, as its not possible to increase the supply that quickly, they will proceed with the approaches that have been tried and failed in previous governments, pushing the problem into the 30's, whereby it ll probably just be much worse!

dont worry, they will, so dont be surprised of another ffg government after the current one, and the continual failures, over and over again…..

Eh, technically, as Eamon is still the relevant Minister, those "senior officials" report directly to him. A much simpler explanation than a bizarre conspiracy theory of civil servants feeding information to the opposition.

Again, technically, if a "senior official" of a Department is asked to brief the Taoiseach, another Minister, or a TD outside of government, his Minister is entitled firstly to decide whether such a briefing is permitted, the contents of the briefing and finally, to receive a report on the briefing. Contact in government is Minister to Minister, adviser to adviser and official to official, if a Minister wants something directly from an official of another Department (other than as part of an inter-departmental group, or some other formal process), then that kind of permission is required.

If the political parties, acting as political parties want to keep negotiations confidential, they don't include civil servants who have a responsibility to report to their own Minister who isn't part of the negotiations.

population of 3 million,un bridaled emigration and a 60% marginal tax rate

Of course there were no issues securing social housing! Sure my student accommodation as a private renter in D4 was 12 quid a week….

https://circulars.gov.ie/pdf/circular/finance/2009/09.pdf

"22. Civil servants may give technical briefings to Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas on request in a variety of contexts, ranging from briefings for individual members representing the interest of constituents, to group briefings on complex national policy issues. Attendance at such meetings should only occur where the Secretary General or Head of Office considers it appropriate. However, all Ministers have been advised that office holders should not request civil servants to conduct briefings in settings such as parliamentary party meetings, constituency branch meetings or similar type meetings."

Essentially, such briefings are on request of their Minister, with the approval of their Secretary General. If I am requesting something to be done, it is perfectly normal for me to ask how it went. Even though the Minister has resigned and is carrying on in a caretaker position, he still has a duty to ensure that the Official Secrets Act and other legislation is not breached.

At the very least he would also get a copy of the briefing been given. That could in itself be enough. For example, if the negotiators asked for briefing on the effect of moving from a 2:1 ratio public transport to roads, to a 1:1 ratio, that would be sufficient to enable Eamon Ryan to say what he said, without having knowledge of the subsequent discussions.

You are absolutely correct.

Corrupt acquisition of money (without a conviction) versus blowing innocent people to bits (with a conviction). In that choice I would hold my nose and pick the former.

The reality is that Fianna Fail has two choices, going in with the regional independents or bringing SF to the table. All others have ruled themselves out.

Let us put aside the real policy differences, let us put aside the silly SF obsession with a united Ireland, the higher moral ground in that choice is siding with the regional independents. Even the most superficial review of the situation would conclude that.

Amazing that anyone who would support SF going into government has a problem with Lowry being there.

You're wrong there. It was SF that promised 60k houses a year and they were rejected.