A chara, – Between the publication of your articles “Six-storey apartments ‘are optimal height for affordability’” (News, April 13th) and “New agency will buy private lands for housing” (News, April 25th), the issue of housing has rarely left the news.
I’m not sure if it is the memory of Dublin’s former tenements or a post-colonial inferiority complex, but we in Ireland seem to have a particular dislike of any buildings over three storeys. The cost viability of apartments and especially apartments over six storeys is often quoted as an important issue, but there is rarely an equal reflection on the transport, environmental and social costs of commuters spending large amounts of time travelling to and from work to housing outside of Dublin and the impact this has on their families.
Dublin’s ability to house its present and future populations within the county and to ensure the viability of its future success will depend upon us resolving this issue of appropriate housing heights, or the societal costs of not doing so will continue to rise and green space and playing fields will continue to be the easy prey for future housing development within Dublin and beyond. – Yours, etc,
CLIVE WILLIAMS,
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Dublin 2.