"why was it a crap idea to build lots of houses? "
You want to be here in the winter when many of the the coastal towns resemble Wild-West ghost towns, when the few houses that have been sold as holiday homes stand empty - all that's missing is the tumbleweed in the street.
These ghost estates have destroyed whole communities, making the area too expensive for locals, and unable to sustain the all-the-year-round facilities - shops, cinemas, pubs, etc - much of what goes into the life of a community.
In this town, out of an estate of 30 odd new houses, only two have been sold, the rest stand empty.
In the next town up the coast, Lahinch, thanks to the recession, a planned complex of around a dozen houses were abandoned after having just been started - now they are a building site of concrete shells swimming in a sea of mud - an eysore and a hazard for local children.
How many reasons is that?
Jim Carroll