Mr. Brian Cowen:

Yes, the measures that we were taking, Deputy, by increasing supply was to moderate the price of housing ... we were trying to do. You have ... if you want ... and that's a problem, by the way, that's here in post-crisis Ireland. We have a problem now with capacity to build houses. People need homes and they can't get them and the reason is because we don't have enough players in the market out there building these homes. So, if you want to deal with a problem, you know, and you're really concerned about high prices, you've got to deal something on the supply side. I said that in the late 90s, the capacity of the construction industry in this country was only able to build 17,000 houses. If the capacity of that industry had not responded and increased its capacity, where would we be in housing today, quite apart from the financial crisis and everything else?