When a Country Ignores Its Own Data

This chapter evaluates the benefits of evidence-informed policy over anecdote through an account of the financial crash in Ireland and the effect of creating public data stories. If politicians, policy makers, local government, the banks and property developers had paid proper attention to the data, the crash may not have happened, or at least might have had a softer landing. Instead, the data were ignored. The census data showed that all the way through the boom, vacancy rates were increasing, housing completions were running way ahead of household increase, more land was being zoned than could realistically be developed, and land and property prices were overheating. As a consequence, Ireland was still paying the price and continuing to experience a housing crisis. While some oversupply still existed in parts of the country, over a decade of suppressed construction activity and rising population had led to a shortage of housing in the cities and their commuter belts. Moreover, Ireland still has an issue with property data, with some datasets being discontinued, some having quality issues, some released in non-open formats and some still non-existent.