Now, we have the bizarre spectacle of left-wing parties such as Sinn Féin being opposed to increases in property tax. This makes us once again, outliers in Europe, where left-leaning parties rightly see property tax (like water charges) as a legitimate tax on wealth and a means of redistributing it. The Irish seem to have a compulsive need to own the property they live in, what I call the Irish property psychosis, because of a lack of faith in any other form of housing, which is historically programmed. Could it be that an inherited trauma, the fear of eviction, lies at the root of the Irish property psychosis, that is, the irrational need to own your own home at any cost, because as a tenant you must always fear eviction, that is, being vanquished, being conquered? The political difficulty is that those suffering from the Irish property psychosis make up a large and influential part of the electorate, and one which even left-wing parties are eager not to alienate.

Source: The Irish Times June 08, 2021 00:11 UTC