Address: 42 Monastery Avenue, Monastery Hill, Cork
Type: Three-bedroom townhouse
Note: Gas fired central heating
Contact: Robert Hawkes, Property Choice, 39 Grand Parade, Cork 021-4278000 or 086-7979174
Price: €195,000

Address: 26 Cherry Vale, Cloyne
Type: Five-bedroom semi detached
Note: Situated on large corner site
Contact: David Hogan, Oakridge Auctioneers, Midleton, Cork 021-4635200
Price: €295,000

Address: Killinear, Sunnook Park, Boreenmanna Road, Cork
Type: Three-bedroom detached bungalow
Note: Oil fired central heating
Contact: Johnny O'Flynn, Sherry FitzGerald, 021-4273041 or 086-6015560
Price: €315,000

Address: 1 The Drive, Broadale, Maryborough Hill, Douglas, Cork
Type: Four-bedroom detached
Note: Gas fired central heating
Contact: Johnny O'Flynn, Sherry FitzGerald, 021-4273041 or 086-6015560
Price: €340,000

Your home is your shelter and shelter is the most basic of needs. It is the need from which other needs spring. It is fundamental to a functional society and owning one's own home has always been a key part of the Irish psyche. To lose your home can be devastating. To be forced to move can have long-lasting effects. Last week we saw some of the worst flooding ever to hit Cork. Areas that had previously never been flooded were under many feet of water.

Address:15 Ardfield Mews, Grange, Douglas, Cork
Type: Three-bedroom semi detached
Note: Gas fired central heating
Contact: Clare O'Sullivan, Savills, 021-4271371

Address: 48 Chapel Road, Ballycotton, Co. cork
Type: three-bedroom cottage
Note: Recently renovated
Contact: Oakridge Auctioneers, Midleton 021-4635200
Price: €295,000

Address: 71 The Crescent, Broadale, Douglas, Cork
Type: three-bedroom detached
Note: Large corner site
Contact: Robert Hawkes, Property Choice, 39 Grand Parade, Cork 021-4278000 or 086-7979174

Address: Former Auto Exchange premises, Euro Business Park, Little Island.
Type: Two-storey office with warehouse
Note: Car showroom to the rear of property
Contact: Edward Hanafin, Lisney, 021-4275079

There are many theories and thoughts on who is to blame for our current property woes. The finger has pointed at almost every sector of the industry at some point and it keeps on going. Everything is so interlinked, however, that blame, if we are to call it that, should be apportioned to everyone. The banks lent money, the people took it and spent it, swelling the market, the builders built and the speculators speculated. One question in all this though is what exactly the planners were doing while everyone else lost the run of themselves?