The above photo, from the Shankill area of Belfast, may point out much of what is wrong with the housing situation in Ireland (of course when I say that I include the North). Much of the recently-built housing stock is of course yuppy apartments. Irish people have been sold (and bought!) a lifestyle. Unfortunately it is one that comes without proper transportation networks to get those yuppies to work, nearby shops, or places for kids to play. Ireland made these same mistakes that America made with the development of their suburbia, but at least in America suburbia came with land and distance from your neighbours. Ireland now seems to rely on the car, and a report on the radio last night indicated that Dublin has the lowest usage rates of public transport of any major city in Europe. Ahhh, so that's why traffic is so gridlocked!
But now, many of those recently completed yuppy housing estates are lying empty, the developers are going bust, and the places are being sold off at fire-sale prices. They're still far more expensive than they are worth, but you won't find me living in any of those Adamstown, Swords, Lusk, Balbriggan-type 'villages' anytime soon. Most self-respecting yuppies that I know wouldn't dream of living in these Legoland villages.
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