60,000 FAMILIES ARE TOO POOR TO BUY A HOME.. AND THEY WILL WAIT TEN YEARS ON A COUNCIL LIST FOR THEIR OWN HOUSE.

THE Celtic Tiger has turned into a wolf in sheep's clothing for thousands of couples unable to afford their own homes.

Trapped on the wrong side of Ireland's gaping rich-poor divide, they are seeing houses they could have bought only a couple of years ago being snapped up by investors.

The supposed benefits of falling interest rates have been wiped out by soaring house prices, meaning many couples are borrowing huge sums to buy the most modest of homes.

Massive mortgages mean that any kind of social life for Ireland's youngest and brightest is impossible.

But they're the so-called lucky ones.

Local authority housing departments estimate there are more than 60,000 families on waiting lists nationwide.

In recent years the number of those waiting more than two years has doubled to nearly four in every 10 families.

The figure is expected to have risen to nearly six in every 10 - with some people waiting 10 years - when the 1999 Housing Needs Report is published early in the New Year.

Despite a record number of families seeking homes, local authorities are building fewer - just 3,368 last year. At the same time, 2,139 council houses were sold into private hands.

That left just over 1,000 properties for 60,000 families too poor to buy their own.

With councils selling houses almost as quickly as they are being built, it is little wonder experts are predicting a housing melt-down.

In a report to be presented to the government today, the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) highlights public housing as one of the biggest worries of the Celtic Tiger economy.

They point out that the private housing boom has provided builders with unprecedented profits. More than nine out of 10 houses built last year were for the private sector.

According to CORI, Ireland has a house ownership rate of 80 per cent - one of the highest in Europe.

But it is a trait that is being exploited by investors with money to spare.

The recent Bacon report into property prices showed investors are enjoying more than 400 PER CENT returns on their money.

But an unwillingness by the government to tackle the growing crisis is not the only problem facing those looking for council houses.

Local authorities say private householders object strongly to council estates being built close to their homes.

This, according to CORI, has led to the "ghetto-isation" of the poor in Irish society.

Leading auctioneers say that any houses which come on the market now will command "massive prices".

The country's biggest mortgage lenders confirmed house prices in Dublin have risen by 33 per cent in the past year and by 80 per cent in the past three.

Auctioneer Simon Ensor of Sherry FitzGerald said: "There simply aren't enough so-called middle- class houses out there for all the people who have money.

"Lots of people who made money in recent years because of our economic boom are looking to spend it on a house.

"They will pay through the nose to get somewhere relatively close to town so they don't have to endure the traffic."

Mr Ensor added that Ireland's history of poverty is at the root of the house prices crisis.

"Buyers are definitely suffering because of the 'lost generation' factor," he said.

"In other countries old people are dying and releasing houses into the market which helps satisfy the demand.

"But in Ireland, for a variety of different reasons including war and disease, all the Edwardian and Victorian houses are owned by younger couples and families.

"A person born in Ireland in 1925 only had a one in two chance of being alive in 1960.

"With so few 'middle-class' houses coming into a market of new-found wealth it is not surprising they are selling for huge prices."

l How long have you been on the housing waiting list? Call The Irish Mirror on [phone]. We will phone you straight back.