Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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62. To ask the Minister for Finance the degree to which his Department monitors house property prices with particular reference to the need to ensure that such prices do not become a major governing economic influence as in the past; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5171/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As is the case with other economic indicators, my Department monitors trends in house prices on an ongoing basis. According to the Central Statistics Office, national residential property prices increased by 16.3 per cent in the 12 months to December. Prices in Dublin rose by 22.3 per cent while price growth nationally excluding Dublin stood at 10.2 per cent over the same period.

Under Construction 2020, the Government has set out a strategy for addressing issues in the property and construction sectors. The strategy involves addressing any critical bottlenecks that might impede the sector in meeting residential and non-residential demand. It incorporates 75 time-bound actions encompassing the development of an overall strategic approach to housing supply, identifying and implementing further improvements in the planning process to facilitate appropriate development, and seeking to improve financing options for development and mortgage provision.

To further underpin a whole-of-government approach to these issues, in July last the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Minister of State Paudie Coffey TD, was given responsibility for driving construction work forward.

In summary, I wish to assure the Deputy that my Department continues to monitor price developments in both the purchase and rental property markets. As set out in the Construction 2020 Strategy, the Government will continue to work on addressing remaining challenges in the property and construction sectors.