Sir, – I read with interest Mary Lou McDonald’s interview in The Irish Times espousing the possibility that homes in Dublin should be obtainable for €300,000 (“Sinn Féin leader talks housing, taking power and suing the media”, Politics, December 20th).
An admirable goal for all those young people who can’t afford a home in Ireland today.
Would she like to show real statesmanship by placing her own home on the market for an asking price of ¤300,000 and let a family onto the property market?
More seriously though, does she realise that in espousing this soundbite, probably to garner more votes, that she might condemn many young families, who have bought homes in the last five years, at very high prices, to negative equity for their lives? I know of one family member who has purchased a former corporation house for double Ms McDonald’s target price. Were price caps to be orchestrated by Sinn Féin to have houses capped to €300,000, this relative’s house value would be adversely affected.
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Eoin Ó Broin has articulated Sinn Féin housing policy very clearly and cogently for some time. It is a shame that Ms McDonald has holed that work and thinking under the water-line by her recent off-the-cuff remarks. – Yours, etc,
RANDALL PLUNKETT,
Dublin 6.
