Irish Examiner view: Another minister departs with a sorry tale to tell
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Over a year ago, on August 13, 2021, this newspaper’s front page lead headline read: ‘House prices ‘will just keep rising’. The report included a commentator advocating that it was still a good time to buy, because rents “continue to financially cripple those in rental accommodation”.
The ensuing year has seen house prices, as predicted that day, continue to rise to eclipse Celtic Tiger levels. However, equally serious, is that landlords are exiting the housing market, many choosing to cash in their chips, and rental property is so scarce as to be almost non-existent in vast swathes of the country.
It is against this backdrop that the resignation of junior minister Robert Troy has come. It is a time when homelessness is on the rise; when students queue in their hundreds in the hope of viewing, let alone moving into, scarce, overpriced rooms.
Troy’s mistakes may well have been “genuine errors and human errors and not intentional”, as his resignation suggested, but in an era when our housing market is utterly broken and stacked against the have-nots, his oversights smacked of arrogance
Troy lashed out at the media in his exit statement, saying that “vilifying landlords is not the answer, and it will not help the problem” and he has a point — but it is the wrong point. This is about a government minister having to correct the record, repeatedly, as his ‘mistakes’ continued to come to light.
“I personally will not apologise for being a landlord,” he said, pointing to having bought his first house at age 20.
This is against the backdrop of the average age of first-time buyers creeping towards 40 and affordability being a thing of the past for most young people.
This issue, like so many that have caused ructions within the Coalition Government since its first day, should have been put to bed quickly. Instead, another minister departs Government, with another sorry tale to tell.