Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

It was for that reason that we decided to up the capital programme last year so that other construction projects away from the residential market would have the fiscal impetus, which was putting vast amounts of resources into other areas to keep it strong. The other areas are holding up very well, whether it is retail, commercial or infrastructural development. The one that is down is the construction industry. If we go from building 80,000 houses to 55,000, we cannot have the same number of workers in construction.

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