Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is always a fear and one of my ambitions, if I last another little while, is to stop the boom and bust cycle in the Irish economy so that we would have measures in place that would provide realistic, sustained growth. Somewhere between 3% and 4% for the next ten years would be admirable and would solve all our problems but it would have to be sustained, and we have to get away from the boom and bust cycle. I am examining a number of ideas. All the levers would not be under my control but we are a long way from a property bubble at present. We certainly have to think about the future but getting houses built that will serve as family homes, particularly in the larger cities and principally in Dublin, is vital. We probably need between 20,000 and 25,000 houses nationally because nothing has been built for four years. As well as dealing with the annual demand, there is a backlog feeding in. There is a good deal of demand for mortgages now. It is taking seven and eight days to get an appointment for mortgages, and it is principally public servants - teachers and so on - and also people in the IT industry. They seem to be the main categories that are moving to buy houses. I presume the other categories will follow as they have a greater sense of job security and a greater sense of countenance.