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

David McWilliams, in evidence here said: "I think the Irish property crash and the banking crash were both incredibly predictable and absolutely preventable." I haven't time to give a quote in detail, but he referred to what he himself said in October 2003, which was early enough in the process. He is referring to property but particularly to housing. "The Irish housing market is a scam ... [a] financial swindle that could potentially confine an entire generation of young Irish workers to years of bad debt ... [and it's a] confidence trick that has been foisted upon us by an alliance of banks and the landowners."