Sir, – If the Government suddenly has €2 billion for mica homes, why wasn’t there €2 billion available for social housing? And if spending per house can be as high as €420,000 for mica homes, why doesn’t the Government instead spend the money building two perfectly decent homes for €210,000 each? Are some citizens in the Republic more equal than others? – Yours, etc,
GARETH SMYTH,
Louisburgh, Co Mayo.
Sir, – I have noted the increasingly shrill outbursts of the mica redress campaigners and their fellow traveller TDs who want to bully the Government into giving the campaigners a blank cheque.
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The redress scheme should be about meeting the people’s housing need not their wants. It has been said that the average size of the houses involved are 2,400sq ft with some of the houses going up to 4,000 sq ft.
The average house for a family in urban areas is about 1,500sq ft. When the redress campaigners built their houses they got personal loans to build homes that met their wants and desires. They now want taxpayers to rebuild their homes to fulfil their wants, not their needs.
If they want more than is required let them fund the excess of costs after having met their needs. Who needs a house of 2,400-4000sq ft? While the campaigners were able to afford these houses when they built them, I begrudge them the right to use my taxes to rebuild these vanity projects.
If the amount to be spent addressed their needs there could be a saving on the estimated costs that could be used to address the housing needs of people on the housing lists or who are homeless. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL LENNON,
Castleknock, Dublin 15.