Caít Keane (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and commend her on the proactive steps she has taken to deal with the difficult problems arising from the housing crisis. I also commend her predecessor, Deputy Willie Penrose. As the Minister of State outlined, a number of pragmatic measures have been undertaken in the past year to try to deal with the various housing issues we face. In this regard, the Government has stepped up to the plate, which was bare, and taken some action on the mortgage crisis. As I noted, this is a difficult problem because we have been left with a legacy from a period of "irrational exuberance", as the Minister of State described it, and the boomtime excesses overseen by our predecessors.