Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have to say I was very, very concerned. There was a lot of, if you like, commentary of a brief kind in the media. There was a lot of conversations, journalists were asking questions. I was also using my position as an Opposition spokesperson to, as I said, talk about, for instance, reining in the tax-driven speculation in land because ... people often talk about the huge rise in construction prices but, Deputy Rabbitte referred to it earlier, the real rise in costs was actually in land costs. Construction prices did rise, but it was the land values that rose, so that, say someone on a modest income who might have bought a house for €250,000 or €300,000, that kind of house was becoming priced at €450,000 to €500,000, and it was going out of the reach even of people who had employment in the public service. It was all of those kind of happenings that were very concerning to anybody who was following what was happening in finance.