Dr. Robert Kelly:

A lot of the main factors have been covered. Perhaps the numbers the Senator provided, such as the 52% increase in house prices, are so acute because there has also been a significant shift in the labour market. People who previously wanted to work in an urban centre had to locate quite close to it but with hybrid working and changing working patterns, it is now more feasible to live considerably further from your job than it was. That is felt most extremely in the commuter belt of Dublin, where we are seeing some of these demand pressures. Not alone are some of the national pressures being experienced in County Laois, but there are local pressures in Laois because of its location relative to Dublin and because of changing working patterns. We spoke earlier about house prices, and demand and supply; demand factors in County Laois are probably even stronger than some of those factors, and other factors, in a relative sense.