Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Let us speak straight, as that is a case of supply and demand. We have houses in Roscommon and my research on this matter shows that back in 2006 and 2007, we were building 60% more houses than actually were required by the market. Moreover, we also were building them in the wrong places. In cities such as Cork, Limerick and Dublin, there is no vacant build such as exists elsewhere and what is needed is for such vacant build to come into the market. However, I believe Senator Barrett's point concerns the scenario in which we were to return to prudential lending and to apply what Mr. Davitt was saying about loan-to-value and all the rest. Incidentally, I understand his model because I looked at it quite extensively. This was done by Genworth in Canada, where a property bubble was avoided because they triangulated the purchasing of houses. The insurance company would not allow one to buy a house that was overvalued by a bank because it would be underwriting it.