Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I do not understand the Minister of State's emphasis on 100% mortgages, which after all only give a benefit to those at the poorest end of the market who cannot afford to get a mortgage any other way.

Looking at the 80,000 houses built last year, half of them were bought by investors and 15,000 of them were second homes which are hardly reliant on 100% mortgages. Will the Minister of State explain why he places such emphasis on the 100% mortgage which is used by those who are stretched to pay for their first house? If the law of supply and demand means anything, and supply is increasing dramatically with more than 80,000 units built last year, why have house prices continued to rise? Even in a year where the level of supply increased so much, house prices surged again. Has the Minister of State studied this? Something is happening that does not make economic sense.

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