Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 18 June 2015

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis

Nexus Phase

Mr. Kevin Cardiff:

Well, I don't think anyone ever said ... I'm sure that Mr. Doyle is right. He would know much better than I. I don't remember anyone ever using, widely at least, soft landing as a soft landing theory. But what I do recall is that people were putting assumptions and risk statements into budgets.

And for the 2008 budget, the assumption was ... don't quote me, I'm here ... but, from recollection, the assumption was something like 50,000 house constructions that year compared to 90 the previous. And 10,000 houses was about 1% on GDP or GNP, I'm not sure which. So, there was, at least within the assumptions, a very significant shift in that dimension alone. Within ... so there was no one ... so when people say we all expected a soft landing, it wasn't that soft. That was quite a bump that would have a real impact on people's lives, lifestyles and expectations in relation to what they would get or not get from the Government system.

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