An investigation is underway regarding an incident of criminal damage in College Court, Castletroy, Limerick in which a vacant property was vandalised by a number of University of Limerick (UL) students. “Videos of furniture being thrown out the upstairs window of the house” were posted and circulated on social media on the morning of October 7th. Thousands of euros worth of damage were reportedly done to the property. UL students spoke to the publication the Limerick Voice, stating that “the incident was particularly troubling given the ongoing housing crisis and shortage of accommodation facing students”. Social science student Andrew Purcell commented, “It must feel like a slap in the face to those who have struggled to find somewhere to live for this semester, and it’s not fair that nothing will happen to the people who caused the vandalism; they get to continue living and studying here with virtually no repercussions.”
There is a lingering sort of disillusionment and cynicism surrounding this incident, elevating it from a bunch of drunk teens to more of a representative moment of how the culture is being shaped by socioeconomic trends. Amidst a housing crisis in Ireland, one that has severely affected students, the university experience in Ireland has become defined by a sense of precarity. Whether it be long commutes, exorbitant rents, overcrowded house shares, or couch surfing, students are constantly reminded that housing is never guaranteed and that homelessness is not an arbitrary thing you see on the streets, but a real possibility. Dr. Michelle Norris and Dr. Michael Byrne from the UCD Geary Institute emphasises in their article “Housing in Ireland: From Crisis to Crisis” (2016) that, “housing in Ireland is perpetually in crisis… [driven by] a tension between housing as a form of shelter (its use value) and housing as an asset class (its exchange value).” (2) This tension, heavily influenced by post-Tiger attitudes and realities, invites a view of housing as a commodity, but also not to be respected. When a landlord is able to keep a property vacant in a high-demand, university area, that is not because no one needs the home.
Following the 2008 crash, the Irish housing policy underwent a major shift towards market reliance, as the state began to retreat from its hold on the market. While the immediate post-crash situation was defined by suburban “ghost estates”, a more modern manifestation of post-Tiger and current housing crisis is “artificial scarcity”. Landlords are able to hold properties such as this College Court one vacant but the land it is on will maintain its value regardless. There is more incentive for a landlord to charge insane amounts for a home, or leave it empty than there is to rent it out to students who attend the nearby university.
Prices have rebounded past Celtic Tiger peaks, driving a crisis in affordability and homelessness. While the reality of the housing crisis is different than that of the Tiger, they are inextricably linked. The Irish government’s decision to cease building social housing and place the responsibility of building social housing into the hands of private corporations left the public with sky rocketing housing prices. Alongside this, Irish banks were facing high numbers of Non-Performing Loans that they couldn’t manage, and sold them to Foreign Property Funds at discounted prices. In an attempt to encourage foreign investment in the Irish market, financially struggling families were left vulnerable and often had their homes repossessed. This is seen today as well: all one has to do is look across the Liffey to see the effects of a shiny GDP, as the big tech companies glare down upon the rest of Ireland. Finally, a cuckoo fund. These are “large investment firms that buy up large numbers of residential properties in Ireland with the intention of renting them out, rather than selling them on an open market”. These drive up property prices, and allow landlords to hold properties vacant, a bit like has been seen in Limerick.
The incident in Limerick is a manifestation of cynical attitudes towards a government that works against its citizens and for the housing market. This is nothing new, nor that couldn’t be expected. To reference an ipse dixit, 18th-century philosopher Jean-Jaques Rousseau, in his Social Contract, explores this feeling of neglect experienced when the social system is not working for the people, but rather against them. When the state apparatus fails to look after basic human rights, disdain is a natural reaction. Translating this in our time, university students look to their parents’ carefree college experience, living in flats with their friends near the campus, and feel they have been shorted when their worries drift from schoolwork and partying to paying their extortionate rent on time. What happened in Limerick was drunk university students being destructive, but when the Irish public is being neglected like this, we cannot expect this incident to be the last of its kind.
