EU criticises FTB help-to-buy and Rent Cap Schemes

[Sarenco]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0307/857964-ec-commission-review/

RTE reporting that that EU Commission is to publicly criticise Minister Coveney's FTB incentive and rent cap schemes as being "incompatible with efforts to increase [housing] supply".

The Commission is also apparently critical of the delayed introduction of the vacant site levy until 2018 and will repeat its opposition to FF's Bill to give the Central Bank price-fixing powers in the mortgage market.

All the Commission's criticisms seem entirely reasonable to me.

 

[Purple]

Of course they are completely reasonable. The problem is that what they are criticising is completely populist and populist trumps reason every day of the week and twice in Sundays.
If the government was really interested in solving the housing problem they would seek an international tender to have a billion worth of houses built in a factory or factories in Europe and shipped here for assembly. That won't happen because of the construction industry lobby, even though the construction industry are a large part of the problem.
Reducing rates and streamlining the planning process for shops which convert their upper floors into apartments would be a good start but that would be a subsidy on businesses and the Paul Murphy's of this world would put a stop to it, just as he stopped water Charges.