Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

No, it is because there are over 200,000 people working in the industry. These people are all working here whereas when there were downturns in the industry in the past, they were obliged to go elsewhere. I am delighted we have a buoyant construction sector and that we have twice the capital budget, in terms of a percentage of GNP, of any of our European counterparts. The latter would love to be in the same position as Ireland.

Let us not decry the fact that we have a buoyant construction sector. One of the important things we must do in the coming years is to ensure that if demand is not maintained at its current level — housing output now is 80,000 units compared with 30,000 six or seven years ago — a way to make a soft landing is found. We must ensure the construction sector continues to make a positive contribution, without there being any adverse economic impact in terms of reduced demand. That is one of the issues the economy and the Government and its successors must face. Assertions to the effect that we have had some tax incentive schemes and that the latter is a reason we should not have had them because we would still have had the same level of activity do not stand up to scrutiny.

We have reached a level of economic activity where it is timely to review these matters in order to discover whether there is a deadweight argument, whether schemes could be modified, whether there are incentives which would remain appropriate and whether there are areas of activity which would benefit from such schemes. These are issues we should not prejudge. It is timely that we should consider these various matters rather than simply adding or subtracting from the current system of schemes. If we take a comprehensive approach, it is likely that there will be a greater degree of agreement regarding the way forward. There is no point engaging in an argument which adds more heat than light to the situation.

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