Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I know what the Minister of State said. He said "The rate of house price increase". I know what he means by this, namely, that it is 10% now, for example, and was a higher percentage last year. However, the message the Minister is trying to communicate every time he refers to this is that house prices are coming down, whereas they are not.

I want to focus in particular on Dublin because, as we all know, the average house price in Dublin is at least €100,000 dearer than it is in general in the rest of the country, even for the smallest unit. Does the Minister accept that young families on normal middle incomes cannot afford to buy a home in Dublin and that what happens in the capital city has a doughnut effect, particularly in regard to young families who must buy in a ring around the city? I hear the Taoiseach is to build a new ring road even further out from the city to accommodate them because they cannot afford to buy in Dublin.

What are the consequences of this in terms of schools and key workers not being able to live in Dublin? Does the Minister have plans to investigate the impact of house prices, particularly in Dublin, and the demographic changes taking place in Dublin? The last census showed the degree to which the demographics of the inner suburbs are aging, with no young families because they cannot afford to buy or live there.

Consequences follow from this but what will be done? There is no foreseeable prospect of house prices in Dublin declining, although the rate of increase may slow, as the Minister stated. However, a 9% or 10% increase is still three or four times the rate of inflation and, on the basis of current house prices in Dublin, means that a house price in Dublin is rising between €30,000 and €40,000 per year. What will the Minister do about house prices in Dublin?

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