Who Really Owns Ireland: How we became tenants in our own land - and what we can do about it

by Matt Cooper

Leading journalist Matt Cooper examines the key players behind the scenes of Irish property ownership - who really controls the valuable land where we live, work and play and how did they acquire it? Who are the new foreign investors and why are they buying property and land in Ireland? What does it mean for ordinary citizens when the ownership of shopping centers, wind farms, forestry and data centers comes from outside?

Comprehensively researched and filled with riveting detail, this compelling account of the Irish property landscape is about our offices, hotels and pubs and the power of those wealthy enough to accumulate these properties. This eye-opening book is a must-read for anyone interested in Ireland and who really owns it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Irish Literature, Politics

320 pages, Paperback

Published December 21, 2023

Reviews

[Daryl Feehely · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book provides the reader with a set of property developer x-ray glasses to use on a tour of the industry and the country, exposing the profit-making transactions for the land beneath our feet & the buildings around us, and showing that with each successive wave of ownership & opportunistic wealth generation, the public or common good is left unprotected or sometimes discarded entirely.

A fascinating, detailed, and often maddening account of how stewardship of the country's land & physical resources are mostly abdicated to the private market, in earlier generations for some tribunal-causing financial gain, and most recently in exchange for foreign capital and tax revenues, often times facilitated by state entities.

The book finishes off the well described land management tour-de-farce with indications that the same failures are happening in the management of the green transition and the growth of the renewable energy sector. Those in power would be well advised to use the book as the basis for a national risk register.

[Peter Thew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important book on the nature of ownership of property in modern Ireland. Cooper's timespan is from the latter years of the 20th century, through the amazing rise of and subsequent collapse of the Celtic Tiger years, and finally the subsequent recovery, then the effects of the covid years. It's a rollercoaster with the vast majority of commercial and a large chunk of domestic property now in non-Irish hands. The deals are complicated and the vast amount of information screams for the necessity of an index, which is sadly absent. The answer to the second part of his sub-title - what we can do about it - seems to be not a lot.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is stacked with facts and filled with well researched accounts of who bought what, for how much, from whom, and when. But if you are looking for a narrative or overarching story of Ireland's economic fortune post the 08 financial crash, you'll be left wanting. Cooper, who usually loves to give his opinion, holds back here. Instead, focusing on the facts of the matter, leaving the interpretation of this data largely to the reader.

[David Cowpar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really in depth study as to who owns what in Ireland and the state of the State with regards to land and home ownership and control. The “what we can do about it” section is not practical as per providing suggestions the reader can engage with. So that loses the star.

[Damien Smyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, well researched. A must read for understanding the mechanics of Irish land & property ownership plus social policy regarding the future of same. Excellent.

[asd · Rating 3 out of 5]

No more than slightly interesting. It's essentially a book listing property deals over the last 20 years. Dry and disappointing.

[Darragh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and insightful.