Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

The value of property generally and the economy should not necessarily be decided in Ballybrit. Some other means should be found. It is extremely dangerous to have an economy based on property values. Higher wages, benchmarking and all such things grew from the fact that people were no longer able to buy a house. That came about in a variety of ways. I heard an opinion expressed that 100% loans were an invention of recent times. They were not. Such loans have been given during the past ten years. In many cases 100% loans were given on properties that had appreciated in value by 100% during the previous year. That is where the problem arose and it will cause much more serious problems. It is the reason major industries consider relocating to lower wage economies and the occurrence of the present problems in Irish Ferries. Many businesses are deeply concerned about the costs imposed upon them which derive directly from high property values.

The economy should not be based on high property values. It is an extremely dangerous and precarious position to hold. When or if a bump or crunch comes, everybody will feel the draught quickly and the financial institutions will be the first to feel it. I hope they do not repossess left, right and centre given that they caused the problem in the first instance. That is enough ideology.

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