Mr. Paul Joyce:

What one does not want is a situation where somebody - because, for example, they are living in expensive rented accommodation - cannot build up a 20% deposit, even if they are on quite high earnings. The Deputy described it as a crude rule, because that it was it is - it is a cut-off irrespective of the person and affordablity. A lot depends on one's capacity to service the mortgage. If one can demonstrate capacity to service the mortgage based on one's current earnings and likely future earnings - should one have to assemble a 20% deposit - it is a worthwhile question to ask. Right through the course of the discussion today I was certainly saying that this needs to be discussed in a lot more detail. We need a lot more information and housing data, which do not seem to have been thrown into this conservation at all. I suspect that nobody here has all the answers.