Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Was ... at any time was it a concern to you that the ... that the old school rule of buying a home, which is three or four times your income, should be over a 20-year schedule would have been the way to buy a house, that that had changed quite significantly, particularly so after the Bacon measures had been taken out, that it was now moving up to 10 to 12 times one's income? The schedules were moving out to 35 to 40 years. The mortgage products were changing, with 100% interest and loan-to-value rules and all the rest of it, were going out the window. At any stage, were you in the Department of Finance saying, "We need to take an action and take a very engaged action into the market to ensure ..."? Because there were other engagements in the market with regards to tax reliefs and all the rest of it, like they ... they do impact how the market works. Were you saying that ... "Homeowners are getting into a very jeopardised position here, we need to take actions"? Maybe you could tell us what you considered and what actions you took.