Sir, – The report published by the Department of Finance on the housing crisis estimates it will continue for 15 years (“Ireland’s housing crisis to last another 15 years, Department of Finance predicts”, Business, November 4th).

This report is not an economic diagnosis. It is an electoral death certificate. My children are still in secondary school but if they read this report they should probably prepare to emigrate.

I voted for this Government and I would vote for it again – it is full of talented people with a genuine passion for the welfare of this country. But it is throwing its hands up and acting at times like a bystander on the issue of housing. No prosperous developed country has had a 30-year housing “crisis” and the word is as weary as the apologies and the excuses. No one is saying the solutions are easy but 60 years ago Seán Lemass and Ken Whitaker faced far greater challenges and rose to the occasion with energy.

I’m no economist but it seems the only way out of a supply-side housing crisis in a small open economy is to incentivise builders and developers to come into the Irish market from all directions as a matter of urgency. That means more generous tax breaks and plenty of them. The left will carp about the Galway tent but if the Department of Finance is correct in its projections we’re not even at the races. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL DEASY,

Bandon,

Co Cork.

Sir, – The front page of The Irish Times reports the Department of Finance predicts the housing crisis in Ireland is likely to persist for at least another 15 years. Less a crisis so, and more an acknowledgment of the impotence of Government to address this country’s most pressing need. – Yours, etc,

TOMAS MCBRIDE,

Letterkenny,

Donegal.

Yates and the public discourse

Sir, – I write in relation to the controversy surrounding my former Newstalk colleague, Ivan Yates. As the person who hired him as breakfast presenter in 2010, I have a long-standing appreciation for his qualities