If I was in any doubt that property has consumed this country utterly, I doubt it no more. I actually wasn’t in doubt to be frank. I mean your powers of observation would have to be stunningly feeble, if you hadn’t noticed by now the obsessive fascination. We all know about the building boom economy, the tens of thousands of empty houses, the absurd price that land in Ireland commands, the property hot spot, off plan, globe trot and the unmerciful serial fleecing of deluded innocents. The evidence is there as plain as the soffit on your semi. This country has fallen victim to a fixation akin to the Easter Islanders destructive Maoi carving cult.
The Irish housing cult is crumbling now however. And the cherry on the apogee has to be the current brouhaha of an election campaign. A profoundly pitiable piss and wind affair, dominated by guess what? Houses.
Stamp duty, stamp duty, stamp duty U turns,
Stamp duty payments, renovations, decorations,
Market value procrastinations,
The boom is getting boomier,
The bust is getting loomier.
My advice? Lay low, keep you head down, and keep your mouth shut if you are tempted to say anything as (your) life threatening as ‘I told you so’.
