Dr. Donal Donovan:

I have two points. It is important to realise that the Irish crash and crisis was not due per se to the fact that Ireland was a small open economy. During that period and earlier periods many small open economies managed their affairs quite well and did not encounter what we encountered. The reason ours was a problem was because we failed to understand and follow the right policies that were needed in a small open economy to protect the banking system, to regulate the banks, to pursue prudent budgetary policies. It was not the small open economy per se; it was the failure of Irish policy-making to do what is needed to make a small open economy work and get the advantages without the disadvantages. That is, perhaps, a personal view.

My second point, on the property-----