The Labour Party is calling for a functioning housing market in Cork.

A public meeting will be held to discuss the issue of housing in the area at 7pm in the Imperial Hotel on Monday, 15 May.

Ciarán Lynch, former TD for Cork South Central and Chairperson of the Banking Inquiry, commented: "The housing market will continue to be broken as long a working people on average wages cannot afford to buy an average house. A functioning housing market should enable a person on the average industrial wage to affordably and sustainably buy a home over a period of time that does not mean the entirety of their working lives.

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"It is by these measurements that we should define whether the housing market is working or broken. And it also by these measurements that we should design our solutions to solve it. Any proposed remedies involving increased supply and new build will only work if they create a market in which average earners can affordably and sustainably buy an average house whether it be from existing or new build.

"Further to this, the ongoing decline in homeownership which is now at its lowest rate since 1971, should not just be seen as a direct consequence of the financial crash itself but an inevitable outcome caused over the lengthy period during which the financial crisis was created. During that time there was a failure to recognise the warning sign of the growing costs of average houses in ratio to average incomes. This was a major factor in causing that the last property crisis and as long as this is not addressed the present crisis will continue get worse."

(CD/LM)