Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In the overall parameters, the two big banks each have total loan books of about €95 billion net of provisions in their overall lending. I am not talking about mortgage lending, but about their overall group lending. They are restricted from doing any seriously big expansion of lending of any type because they are still trying to correct the financial engineering of their balance sheets. This idea of restricting people getting access to mortgage loans is within that context. That should not be forgotten and it will be the context for the next two years.

I will give one last example. This is a concrete example of an apartment at the height of the boom in Dublin 2, which sold for €280,000. It was capable of being rented for €900 per month, which is €10,800 a year. At a multiple of 15 times, that is a valuation of €150,000 to €160,000.