Sir, – I must confess myself to be absolutely astonished by reports that RTÉ has received bids of up to €90 million for 8.64 acres of its Donnybrook campus.
My astonishment is not related to the amount quoted in your article, but rather the opportunity cost associated with the national broadcaster continuing to remain on this prime city centre site, and that it plans to “invest the proceeds of the sale to help fund an upgrade of the remainder of its Donnybrook complex”.
The fact that a moribund State organisation continues to occupy land that is ripe for development highlights the role Government involvement in the property market plays in exacerbating the housing shortage we are currently experiencing in the capital.
A private company would never countenance such an inefficient use of resources, and would have sold out and relocated sometime ago. This wasteful phenomenon combined with the unnecessary restrictions on high rise developments and the over-zealous residential fire-safety regulations are all State-sponsored impediments to the normal functioning of the property market.
Instead of clamouring for the state to do more to solve the housing crisis, perhaps people should be urging it to do less. – Yours, etc,
DARRAGH FAHY,
Dublin 2.