Dr. Conor O'Toole:

As Dr. McQuinn mentioned, the shock we saw with Covid-19, which was very much based on having to restrict public interaction, which in turn had an impact on economic activity, is very different from the shock we are facing now, which is pretty much a sudden stop and a direct sudden stop in terms of the energy price escalation. It is rapidly rising in ways we have not seen for many years. The risks in terms of direct price effects cannot be understated with respect to how much they could affect building costs and materials. All of these commodities are internationally traded and will increase in line with the stresses we are seeing in the international markets. That can feed through directly into our ability to meet even our current commitments and current envisaged investments in the housing sector. We cannot understate the risks associated with how the propagation of the severe price stress we are seeing will feed back into the Irish economy. It is certainly a major risk which is very difficult to deal with in the short term. Housing issues take a long time to deal with. As we have seen with the supply challenges, it has taken many years to ramp up supply. This crisis layers an additional complexity to the ability to manage the delivery in the housing market.