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

However, the question Senator Barrett is asking is very simple. It does not matter whether one is living in Leitrim, Cork, Dublin, Donegal or anywhere else. One simply takes the national industrial wage and applies it to that area in the country. The committee heard disputes on figures yesterday, when IBEC and others appeared before the joint committee, stating the national industrial wage is either €36,000 or €42,000. Let us split the difference and make it €40,000. Prudential lending practices will state that four times the national industrial wage will be €160,000. If one operates on the basis of a loan-to-value rate of 90% and all the rest, along with prudential loans of perhaps three or four times one's income with a partner contributing, this means that a standard three-bedroom house for an entry couple must be somewhere around €160,000. However, Mr. Davitt is suggesting the existing business model in the construction industry cannot build a house for €160,000. There is something radically wrong if prudential lending suggests such a figure but the industry is unable to produce the product at or below that figure.