Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Perhaps I might answer quickly. There is broad consensus among commentators that the Irish economy is set to continue to perform strongly, expanding close to its growth potential both this year and next. Over the medium term, the economy is expected to grow at almost double the rate forecast for the eurozone overall. The pace at which new housing output adjusts downwards to long-term, sustainable levels is an important risk for the economy, and new housing completions are projected to decline by 2.5% next year and 5% in 2007 and 2008. That will be offset by investment in other building and construction, including a significant increase in spending on the public capital programme. That is the level of economic activity that we predict, and we therefore anticipate a soft landing. We envisage that the issue will be dealt with in a planned way over a period owing to demographic, employment and other factors that differ greatly from those in other European economies and this means that housing output is justified.

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