The Sunday Business Post today carried a brief report on the startling fact that the Department of the Environment (headed up by Dick Roche at the time) spent 10% of a €50 million “Affordable” home budget in Wicklow.

The figures quoted by the Business Post don’t make a lot of sense though. They said that €4.6 million was spent on 46 “affordable” homes in Arklow. This would mean that they were bought for €100,000 each, which wouldn’t even buy the roof of a house, never mind 4 walls and a door.

I can only figure that it was 16 homes purchased for the €4.6 million at a cost of €287,500 (still quite a low figure – we’d have the roof now and maybe 3 walls).  This would mean that those buying the “affordable” homes would get a €100,000 discount, making the buying price €187,500.

The SBP tries to make out that somehow a disproportionate amount was spent in Wicklow “before the last general election”. I’m no cheerleader for the government or Fianna Fail but it doesn’t appear to me that spending 10% in Wicklow is showing favouritism towards Wicklow. Dick Roche’s spokesperson was quite right to point out that 10% isn’t unbalanced when 90% was allocated in South Dublin, Kildare and Meath. Given that South Dublin in particular would have higher house prices, the story really becomes a “lets have a dig at Dick” piece.