Dr. Peter Bacon:

The Deputy has two questions. The terms of reference to the first report did not contain or express, in my memory, any concern about speculation. We are talking about late 1997 for these terms of reference for the report. The terms of reference were about concerns that prices were accelerating. The concern of the Department of the Environment and Local Government at the time was to get a handle on why this was happening. People did not know. I do not think there was a preconceived view or belief at that time that speculative forces were strong. At the time, I do not think they were. From 1998 onwards, during the course of this work and as noted explicitly in the second and third reports, the significance of speculative demand was rising and ultimately driving the market. On the question of specific measures, it is very difficult to isolate one measure. Certainly, in the short term and in the sense of bringing down the rate of increase in prices, the measure that bit hardest was the tax deductibility of interest.