Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Earlier, Dr. Donovan stated, "In addition, IMF staff had consistently urged from the beginning of the decade the introduction of a property tax and a reduction in mortgage interest relief to help counter a strong pro-house ownership bias." Why is the IMF opposed to ordinary Irish people owning their homes as opposed to spending their lives at the mercy of landlords? Dr. Donovan also stated, "The thrust of the staff view was that for most of the 2000 to 2007 period, house prices were somewhat overvalued". The research available to us shows that from 1996 to 2006 the price of an average home increased each year by the equivalent of the average industrial wage. Is it fair, therefore, to state that they were somewhat overvalued? I do not know of a single instance where an international or a national organisation - such as the IMF, the EU Commission or the Central Bank of Ireland - uttered an expression of concern regarding that young generation of working people who were the victims of the huge inflation in house prices which took place between 1996 and 2006. At that time, the periods of repayment relating to mortgages were extended from 20 years to 40 and lending reached unsustainable levels. Those to whom I refer were the victims of what some people call "overweening profiteering and speculation". Why was that the case?