Dr. Robert Kelly:

There is definitely a demand-supply imbalance that continues. We are not supplying the needs that are demanded right now. There is a question as to whether all of the policy positions taken along the way were taken with the correct expectations around unemployment growth but we sometimes lose sight of the reality that the Irish economy has performed so well in the last five years, so much so that we are almost a victim of our own success. That does not take away from the social cost of these housing issues in any way or what our households are experiencing but the reality is that we need to ensure that the infrastructure and housing allows our economy to grow at the rate it is growing. We have had unexpected population growth through migration. We have had 100,000 workers join our workforce over the past year. These are very positive things but, in reality, what that creates is an unexpected additional demand on the housing system. These people have to live somewhere. Looking back, it is very easy with 20:20 hindsight to say we made mistakes along the way but while I completely agree that the gap still exists, the reality is that some of the factors were unforeseen in 2015, particularly in terms of the economic growth we have seen in Ireland.