Professor Peter Clinch:

The housing question is incredibly complex because it is influenced by a large range of issues. I think that the new housing strategy, Rebuilding Ireland, does address most of those areas. The problem is that it takes time. The reaction to the economic recovery ,which probably hit in early 2011 although people did not start to feel it for a long time, has not seen the investment levels on the supply side that we would have required to provide a mechanism to avoid the rapid house price increases we have seen. The knock-on effect of that is exceptional. For firms, property is very high among those areas that are most important for the costs and competitiveness of the business. Expensive commercial property affects the competitiveness of firms and that has a knock-on effect on what firms can pay their workers. Their workers, understandably, want wage increases because the cost of living, particularly driven by housing costs, is rising. While there has been an inadequate investment in housing, it is on the private side, not necessarily just on the public side.