Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We need a lot of extra commercial property in Dublin and in other cities. IDA Ireland has indicated that accessing suitable properties is now a big issue. There is a pipeline of companies that want to come to Ireland and provide good jobs here. One of the challenges is being able to build office and other commercial accommodation for them quickly enough in areas such as Dublin and Cork. There are very few good-quality office developments that are not being filled.

I do not think we should approach increasing residential property investment and provision by reducing the delivery of commercial developments. The straight answer is that we need both. We have a lot of zoned land, much of it with planning permissions in place. We know a significant number of planning applications are up for decision to ramp up significantly the provision of residential property. Last year about 15,000 residential properties were finished, which is about 1,000 more than people were anticipating last summer. I think we will be ahead of expectations again this year.

See this speech in context