He goes on to state that there was "irrational exuberance" in Ireland. I do not regard normally the Department of Finance or the Revenue Commissioners as organisations that suffer from "irrational exuberance" but that is what characterised the property-based tax breaks. Those tax breaks were introduced to target areas where there was no activity. They were supposed to be time limited but they became open-ended and unrestricted in terms of amount and the projects to which they applied.

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