Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland

10:00 am

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is free money. I have been critical but I understand where the Central Bank is. We have a job to do here to debate and agree policy while the Central Bank needs to stand off from it to a certain extent. However, Professor Philip Lane is on the record saying he would act if there was any evidence of a housing bubble or spiralling prices. Increases of €6,000 per month in Dublin over the past three months and €4,000 nationally are spiralling house prices in anybody’s book. How long would that trend have to continue for the Central Bank to intervene?