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

The commercial property expert said: "No deal is too big, no proposition too ambitious for today's property professionals. The world is their stage." Going forward to Mr. O'Regan's own period particularly, in 2007 we have further very substantial coverage and again the property editor wrote, "Tribute was paid to the risk takers who are flying the Irish property flag at home and abroad ... who have demonstrated their courage by forging paths where few, if any, Irish people have ventured before", and so forth. Among the awards was Irish investor of the year, Irish developer of the year, international property achievement, Irish commercial development of the year, Irish property personality of the year and residential development of the year. Of those glittering awards, in 2007, the Irish property deal of the year was the Irish Glass Bottle site which cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions. Seven of the award winners ended up in NAMA, five of whom were among the top ten debtors to Anglo Irish Bank, which cost the taxpayer billions of euro. In view of all this, would Mr. O'Regan like to revise his statement that no conscious attempt was made on the part of the newspaper to fuel what has been described as a property boom?