The unfinished and vacant housing developments from Ireland’s property boom-turned-bust are called “ghost estates.”

There are more than 2,000 of these forlorn neighborhoods spread across the country. Here’s a New York Times story about one in Dublin. Here’s a government paper about the problem in post-Celtic Tiger Ireland.

We saw a few of these ghost estates during our June visit to Ireland. Nobody seemed to know what’s going to happen to these properties, though it’s a safe guess that many will end up being bulldozed.

If so, and given enough time, the land will re-green itself. But will the lessons of greed be remembered?