Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

Last year was the opposite of the previous year, where from early 2004, on a quarterly basis, the rate of increase declined. This time last year, experts were talking about a 5% or 6% increase. It seemed, however, that another wave of increases took place as the year went on. We do not have our own figures for the fourth quarter but the ESRI figure would have increased 1% on the previous year, where its prediction might have been there would be a drop. The third and fourth quarter saw increases once more, which might be due to extra numbers in employment, more people entering the State and 100% mortgages and other products.

What are we doing about it? Our policy in recent years has been to encourage supply because only by having supply to meet demand can the problem be solved. We are doing everything to maximise supply while putting schemes in place to help those caught in the affordability gap.

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