Mr. Patrick Sweetman:

That is absolutely right. On the question of data on land hoarding, I hesitate to go back to the Kenny report of 1971, which was published in 1974. Even then, while there was a sense of land hoarding, there was no actual evidence of it. I have worked with developers for 35 years and have heard on many occasions about land hoarding but whenever I question a developer on the point the answer is that the issues are infrastructure and planning and there are good reasons land is not developed. A developer's job is to make a profit but it would be a brave developer who says he might make a good profit today but a better one tomorrow so decides to wait. My experience is that, if there is a profit to be made today, they will make a profit today.

On the question as to whether it was too expensive to build, it is really down to volume. There are people buying houses at €200,000, €250,000, €300,000 and €350,000 but in order to kickstart a resurgence in the industry one needs volume and greater numbers of people who can afford to buy the houses. One does not want to build 20 houses in a development but 200, although the Society of Chartered Surveyors will be better able to deal with that question.

I was asked whether there was any data evidence on whether the Central Bank restrictions prevent people from buying. I would put it down to common sense - not many people can afford a €60,000 deposit to buy a house except through the bank of mum and dad, and this just perpetuates the inequalities because the people with assets are the ones who can afford to buy a house while others, without that support from their parents, are not in such a position. I do not have any specific data but there are plenty of data on the subject. There are plenty of studies which I can get for the committee.

Other countries are struggling with the pension timebomb. We have looked at providing a pension fund for pensions and different countries are dealing with it in different ways. We have one of the largest proportions of home ownership and that is a very good thing but other countries have older populations and smaller populations of young people than we have. We are building up problems for ourselves in 40 years time.