Mayo Views: Time-wasting housing debates should be stopped

by Auld Stock

THE crisis regarding the shortage of houses rumbles on in Dáil Éireann and in the media.

Claim and counter-claim are made in time-wasting debates in our national parliament. Lots of talk but not a lot to be seen on the actual ground.

So much so those on housing waiting lists are fed up to the teeth with their needless carry-on.

They are telling our politicians to get on with the job and cut out the cackle.

Action speaks louder than words, and that is what people on the house waiting list want: action.

And they want it now.

I heard an expert on radio say if a developer applies in this country to build one hundred houses it could take four years before the builders move on to the site.

A similar project in America takes three to four months.

There is something radically wrong with the planning process in Ireland when this is allowed to happen.

Objections in this country are a dime a dozen.

Scrap the current planning regulations and replace them with more sensible guidelines.

The sooner the better.