Upcoming Events

National | Housing

no events match your query!

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker

Indymedia ireland

Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite
UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.

offsite link Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent
Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!

This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".

According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.

People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.

offsite link AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent
Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.

offsite link Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy
We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza

Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support

With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza

offsite link China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy
This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty

A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed.

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link No Benefits for Foreigners Under Reform, Says Nigel Farage: Stricter Visa Tests and Deportation for ... Mon Sep 22, 2025 13:00 | Will Jones
Nigel Farage?today vowed to block foreign nationals from getting benefits, slashing the welfare bill "by ?234bn", and to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants with 'settled status' by bringing in stricter visa tests.
The post No Benefits for Foreigners Under Reform, Says Nigel Farage: Stricter Visa Tests and Deportation for Those Who Fail Under Crackdown on ‘Settled Status’ Migrants appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link When it Comes to Reparations, the Church of England Doesn?t Care About Evidence or Ethics Mon Sep 22, 2025 11:00 | Nigel Biggar
The Church of England has shown that it doesn't care about evidence or ethics, says Prof Nigel Biggar. Why else, when presented with proof its ?100 million reparations giveaway is groundless, would it press on regardless?
The post When it Comes to Reparations, the Church of England Doesn?t Care About Evidence or Ethics appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Sensational New Measurements of Uncorrupted Air Temperatures Destroy UK Met Office Constant Claims o... Mon Sep 22, 2025 09:00 | Chris Morrison
New data shows the Met Office's 'record' heat spikes are junk, weaponised by Net Zero activists to scare the public witless and push the no-hydrocarbons fantasy, says the Daily Sceptic's Environment Editor.
The post Sensational New Measurements of Uncorrupted Air Temperatures Destroy UK Met Office Constant Claims of ?Records? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Making Tax Digital ? a Disaster in the Making or a Brilliant Innovation? Mon Sep 22, 2025 07:00 | Guy de la B?doy?re
Making Tax Digital is set to hit sole traders and landlords from 2026, promising more admin, costs and chaos than clarity, and Guy de la B?doy?re is already throwing in the towel rather than get swamped.
The post Making Tax Digital ? a Disaster in the Making or a Brilliant Innovation? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Mon Sep 22, 2025 00:43 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Irish Housing: Private Developers Cannot Deliver

category national | housing | press release author Monday August 29, 2016 22:38author by pbp Report this post to the editors

After the launch of the Irish government’s “Rebuilding Ireland” programme, TV3’s “Tonight with Vincent Browne” on 19 July 2016 discussed the plan and the general issue of housing. One of the main points discussed was whether houses should be built by the state or by the private sector — and who could do it at lower cost. Rob W from Before Profit Cork reports.
houseshouses.jpg

It is particularly hard to believe that profiteers can offer houses to the market for cheaper prices than public bodies can. Like any capitalist enterprise, the private house-building sector will only sell houses to the market when it is profitable to do so. In today’s case this happens to mean selling at prices that few can afford. The risks are too high for developers and banks will not lend to them. As such, they have all but stopped building. In response to this, Ireland’s minority government have offered a whole package of subsidies in their “Rebuilding Ireland” plan to get private developers building houses.

On the housing episode of “Tonight with Vincent Browne”, Financial Analyst Karl Deeter from the Mortgage Brokers Association expressed his view that, along with Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy, he doesn’t mind whether the state or the private sector build the houses. Deeter, the former ethics officer for Renua, went on to say that he thinks the private sector is capable of delivering housing cheaper than the state, claiming that “the cost of delivering housing is not cheaper when built by the state. And that is just a fact. The same as gravity is just a fact”. He cited “costs that are difficult to account for, like how you personally socially value something” which need to be taken into account when considering the cost of housing.

Deeter’s main reasons for arguing that private developers could deliver housing cheaper than the state are discussed below (these were published on factcheck article at thejournal.ie following the televised programme). To each claim a response is offered, which argues further the need for a state-run house-building programme.

Claim 1: ‘Local authorities would have to pay permanent employees (as opposed to contractors) to do the work’

Response: All workers should have a right to permanent employment, and should not have to follow precarious work patterns working simply when private capital requires their labour. Given the scale of the housing crisis in Ireland, the extent of the works required certainly means that there is is a strong case for the state to provide permanent employment to a large number of workers to get the necessary houses built.

Claim 2: ‘They would have to pay them premium rates’

Response: If the alternative is low wages, then the idea of workers being paid premium rates is definitely a positive. Higher wages mean a better standard of living, and also has advantages for the wider economy.

It is unsurprising that a commentator in favour of boosting the private sector is also keen for wages to be kept low. Low paid workers would, quite simply, not be able to afford the houses they are building.

Claim 3: ‘They [the state] would have to accrue a “large trailing liability” in the form of pensions’

Response: Pensions look after society’s eldest. Profits pocketed by housing developers do not. It may be that Karl Deeter prefers for the house cost not to incorporate a small amount towards looking after people later in life. Public sector pensions for construction workers are by no means a drain on an economy. Private developers, who sell at prices which few can afford and put homeowners in unmanageable debt, on the other hand, do create a significant drain on the economy as was witnessed in 2008 and onwards.

Claim 4: ‘State procurement takes longer and is more expensive than private procurement’

Response: This is speculative. The state has every means of getting jobs done when it wants to. Today’s situation is more one in which the state does not have the political will to carry out a house-building programme. In general, state procurement which ‘takes longer’ uses systems designed to get the best value and quality. The cost of procurement is minimal on the scale of infrastructure projects.

Claim 5: ‘The private sector tends to deliver infrastructural projects more quickly than the State, which would save money’

Response: There is no reason to believe that the public sector is not potentially as capable of delivering infrastructure projects just as quickly as the private sector. We need only to look at the efficiency with which the government is carrying out their nationwide water meter installation programme. If there is the political will to do something, public bodies are more than efficient and fast at completing a set of works.

The private sector will only deliver housing to the market if there are financial incentives — which come and go. The country’s housing situation is currently too critical to rely on financial incentive.

Claim 6: ‘There would be higher “input prices” (the cost of building materials, basically) because suppliers tend to charge more in bidding for State tenders’

Response: This is again purely speculative. If the state were to undertake a mass house-building programme on a large scale, its purchasing power would mean that it could buy materials at a much lower cost than the private sector. Fine Gael Housing Minister Simon Coveney himself told radio shows on the day of the launch that the state’s tendering programme would ensure that the best price could be achieved.

Even if the private sector could build houses at lower prices than the public sector, which is highly unlikely, this would come at a cost of low wages, poor employment, and a lower quality of housing. The right wing arguments made against the state building of housing are from the same philosophy of austerity, low wages, and economies prioritising private interests rather than public good. It is abundantly clear that a continuation of these policies, which have so far failed to show any benefits, will do little to resolve Ireland’s housing crisis.

Related Link: http://www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie/2016/08/irish-housing-private-developers-cannot-deliver/
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy