Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It would be great if the professor could send us an answer in writing which we could circulate to committee members.

I want to reiterate the point made by Deputy Michael McGrath about rental properties. There has been a massive increase in rents in the past year and a half. There is no question but that people who are renting are trapped and will be for the foreseeable future if the deposit rules for house loans are not amended. Professor Lane mentioned the credit boom in 2004, 2005 and 2006. What we have now are an 80% LTV ratio, income to loan values and deposit requirements, following a situation where we practically had loan to value ratios of 120%. Sometimes the figure was even higher. To some extent, are we not comparing apples and oranges, rather than apples and apples? My concern is that the definition of what is sustainable is very narrow and does not really take into account the realities of the alternatives people face when they cannot access mortgage finance.

My question relates to some of the concerns raised about the Central Bank's policy by organisations such as, for example, the Society of Chartered Surveyors. They state the Central Bank's rules are hindering and hampering the recovery of the construction sector.

My next question relates to the construction sector. There is an issue with the lack of bank financing for development. This is part of the overall picture in terms of the failure of the construction sector to recover.

Again, does Professor Lane see any role for the Central Bank in dealing with that issue, where there is clearly a distressed construction sector - there are no two ways about it - in the same way that there are distressed borrowers and people who have been distressed in terms of their credit card debt, their car loan debt and so forth? There is a generation of people who have been subject to distress financially. We are depending on the construction sector to get back into business, but the lenders do not want to go there in terms of funding more than maybe 60% of the debt that is required.