‘German criticism of Irish housing crisis comes from jealousy of our economy,’ says economist John FitzGerald

Top-selling magazine Der Spiegel’s claims of record homelessness are ‘factually wrong’

John Fitzgerald did not agree with much of the article in 'Der Spiegel'

Niamh Horan

Germany’s leading news magazine, has published a damning critique of Ireland’s housing crisis, describing a property and rental market that has spiralled “out of control”.

Der Spiegel, which has one of the biggest circulations of any news magazine in Europe and a tradition of investigative journalism, detailed how Ireland has reached a “new record”, with more homeless families than “at the time of the Great Famine in the 19th century”.