Analysing the measures taken by Ireland since the housing crisis and comparing them with those adopted by Spain. This was the aim of the first international round table "Lessons from the crisis", which was held organised and held by the URV's Housing Chair on 8 May

Participants from Ireland were: Conor Skehan, Chairman of the Housing Agency, the government strategic housing body; Senator Aideen Hayden, politician and housing and tenants’ rights advocate; Tom Dunne, property economist and former Chairman of the Private Rented Tenancies Board, the registration and dispute resolution board of Ireland; Karen Lynch Shally, an expert in European mortgage law; and Bob Jordan, Chief Executive Officer of Threshold, a tenants’ rights and information organisation.

Participants from Spain included many members of the Housing Chair URV, and URV itself, as well as academics and housing experts from other universities and agencies: Jordi Bosch, Miriam Anderson, Emma López, Montserrat Pareja, and Isabel Viola. Attendees also came from Belgium and Malta. The event was opened by Vice Rector Professor Gutiérrez-Colón, chaired by Dr Nasarre, Director of the Housing Chair URV, and facilitated by Dr Lorcan Sirr of DIT, Ireland.

The housing roundtable was very much a success, and from the Irish perspective an interesting and illuminating experience to see at first hand the commonalities and differences between Ireland and Spain, and to take back some new innovations and ideas to test their applicability in their home markets.