Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform
Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank
2:50 pm
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I agree with the Governor that at the heart of this is the problem of inflated property prices and people who do not really have the money to pay for property - a roof over their heads - except through the availability of credit. As he points out, even after the fall in prices, property prices are still much higher than in the past. Accordingly, we are in this conundrum that people need a roof over their heads but that the only way they can have one is by a dangerous extension of credit which they might not be able to sustain if their income becomes stressed.