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

But, Mr. McCreevy, is it the case that a huge part of that massive increase was due to the speculation and profiteering in the building land on which the houses were built? And for example, an 11-acre site in Stillorgan was bought in 2000 by a group of very wealthy individuals, sat on for four years and sold for €85 million in 2004. A €53 million speculative gain on which apartments were to be built which would cost each young person buying, maybe €120,000 extra, just as a result of that gain. Mr. McCreevy, can I ask you, is it fair to describe that as inordinate greed and can you justify doing nothing to curb that profiteering and how do you justify the fact that your cuts in capital gains tax put an extra €10.5 million into the pockets of those speculators?