Crowe attacks ministers' crocodile tears

Are Ireland's largest property developers becoming a bit like police officers, never there when you want them?

In May, Bertie Ahern told an Irish Congress of Trade Unions meeting that 19 property developers had the right to large tracts of land surrounding Dublin. However, Freedom of Information requests to both the Taoiseach's office and the Department of Environment have failed to yield up the 19 names.

However, all is not lost. This week, the government has decided to put out a tender for building the much delayed national conference centre. They hope that private sector developers will build the conference facilities. Considering they seem to control all the available building land, it would be a likely starting place for putting together a conference development plan, even though we still cannot put names or even faces on these developers.

Sinn Féin TD Sean Crowe took up this issue of the 19 missing developers in Leinster House this week. He said: "Last month, the Taoiseach left Congress in no doubt that he had every intention of seriously taking on the developers and tackling the issue of land hoarding.

"Last Friday, The Irish Times reported that the Taoiseach's Department and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government seemed unsure as to who these developers are. If the Taoiseach is committed to taking on these 19 developers, identifying them would surely be a positive first step."

Crowe attacked the Dublin government's backtracking on housing. He also pinpointed the real problems in building new houses in Dublin.

"Developers are offering financial inducements to local authorities," he said. "Money from these developers, particularly in the Dublin area, is not worth a damn. Local authorities want units, not money. Money will not solve the problems in local authority areas in Dublin."

Crowe also tackled the role of government: "The State is also selling off land, not to local authorities, but in many cases to private speculators and developers. Ministers then cry crocodile tears about the increase in house prices. We are not tackling the major problem - the availability of land. Land is being sat on, while people, particularly in this city, remain homeless and young people are finding it increasingly difficult to find housing".

The solution, according to Crowe, is "for more radical approaches to deal with the problems of housing, land prices and speculation.

"Sinn Féin believes the right to housing is fundamental and must be enshrined in the Constitution. We intend to introduce legislation for a referendum on the subject in the autumn and look forward to the support of Deputies with a serious interest in tackling homelessness and other housing-related problems".

Sinn Féin has also made a submission on private property to the Oireachtas All-Party Committee on the Constitution. The submission makes the point that the right to public property is being given pre-eminence over social justice. The Democratic Programme of the first Dáil, one of the cornerstone texts of Irish republicanism, states: "We affirm the right that all rights of private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare."

Crowe also called for a real debate on the right to private property as it is currently constituted in the Constitution. He said: "The constitutional balance must be in favour of the common good over the rights of private property."