Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There are conflicting views on the property market. People who are in negative equity want to see house prices increasing, whereas those who are trying to purchase homes want the best value. The reality is that half the people who are residential home owners have no mortgages. Does the strategy aim at normalisation or recovery? According to the Irish Banking Federation, approximately 2,000 mortgages issued last month, of which 92% were in the residential market. There is movement in some parts of the country. To answer the riddle posed by Deputy Michael McGrath, normalisation is a three up-three down house costing three or four times the national industrial wage. Any incentive or tax relief in the property sector that moves a common or garden house outside of that band should set off an alarm bell. People should be borrowing three to four times their incomes, with a loan-to-value ratio of 90%. That is the only caveat I would make.