Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

In Mr. Regling's report under "areas for investigation" and "policy lessons", can I ask in particular regarding speculation in building land and property, are there lessons in that regard that should find their way into policy changes? By way of background, I refer to the fact that in Europe, the component price of a home that is caused by the land or site value is about 15%, but in Ireland in the top of the bubble the price of the land reflected itself in about 50% of the price of an ordinary home. An expert here, P.J. Drudy, writing in the Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, 2007, said "there is evidence to suggest that land suitable for housing in some parts of the country, and especially in the Dublin area, is controlled by a relatively small number of landowners and developers." Does Mr. Regling think it would be appropriate that there should be, for example, control of profiteering in building land, or in the subsequent housing, etc., that is built on building land? Should that not be a policy change as well as some of the others he suggests?