Mr. Seamus Coffey:

We are not saying that it is easy. It is actually quite difficult because the unemployment rate is so low and the pressure on the housing system itself is so tight, in particular in the rental sector. If people move back to Ireland from abroad or move from other countries to Ireland, they are not necessarily going to buy a house. The pressures on the private rental sector are higher than in the owner-occupier or the first-time buyer sector. It is not an easy one to solve.

Again, the issue is whether we make choices to push down other areas. We would like to do everything but we just do not have the capacity to do it. We are not saying we have an easy solution but the concern is that given the Government is running surpluses and the money is available, one option would be to just throw more money at it and hope that it would provide something, but that could lead to an indirect tax on everybody by driving up prices.