Daft Property - Irish Property News

EU now being threatened by its own central bank... IN the late 1980s, while studying at the College of Europe in Bruges, I was struck by just how pragmatic the European project appeared to be. Many of the lecturers and professors were deep EU "insiders" -- distinguished academics from all over Europe who had excelled in their own fields. They seemed to be the pinnacle of cosmopolitan sophistication, enlightened and aware of the various strands that had to be pulled together carefully to make the EU work. Back then, any moves towards more European power were characterised by patience and prescience -- a little move here, a pull back there, never overplaying the hand and, above all, the entire process seemed to be non-ideological. Over the past 10 years, this has changed. European wisdom has been replaced by EU dogma; lateral thinking exchanged for tunnel vision. The ECB is to blame. Those who, during the boom, pointed out that there was a central problem at the heart...

Property Council to sue State, banks over collapse: AN ORGANISATION representing property investors and developers is to take a class action in the High Court against the Government, the Financial Regulator and the banks over their roles in the collapse of the property market. The Irish Property Council (IPC) is to outline its plans today for the court proceedings which will set out to apportion responsibility for the collapse. It says the ruination of the property market has been caused “by the reckless lending of our banks, lack of regulation by our Government and the disregard of prudent advice on fiscal policy by the Government in power”. The council is to invite developers, house purchasers or investors who are now “total casualties of the collapse” to put forward their names for the court action and a claim for compensation. The IPC was set up last year to provide support for small builders, developers and investors who have run into financial difficulties following the...