Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 30 April 2015

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis

Nexus Phase

Mr. Brian Goggin:

No, we were conscious that construction activity as a portion of GDP was high. And, I mean, you know, when you look at this ... I mean, this was a much broader issue than just mortgages and banking. It goes right to the core of economic management and fiscal policy and taxation policy. But, you know, we viewed Ireland at that point, and many of the reports ... independent reports point to Ireland catching up. We had a big growth in employment. We had a demographic where two thirds of the population was under 44 years of age. On average, the Irish demographic was ten years younger than the European demographic. So there was a huge catch-up. We had a huge investment in infrastructure. I mean, a lot of that property and construction was in infrastructure. So I think, again, a lesson to learn from your work is, you know, ensuring there is some balance in any disproportionate degree of activity in the broader kind of macroeconomic policy.