Commentary

Commentary
11-May-09
Who said what, and when they said it.

"People of small means and of big means."
Bertie Ahern
Describing guests at the Fianna Fail tent at Galway Races, August 2006.

"I never condemn wrongdoing in any area."
Bertie Ahern
22 February 2006 in the Dáil.

"It is quite unacceptable that a member of Dáil Éireann and in particular a Cabinet Minister and Taoiseach, should be supported in his personal lifestyle by gifts made to him personally."
Bertie Ahern
On Charles Haughey, Dáil Éireann transcript, September 1997

"I'm not answering what I got for my Holy Communion money, my Confirmation money, what I got for my birthday, what I got for anything else, I'm not into that."
Bertie Ahern
21 September 2006

"The money was just resting in my account"
Father Ted

"Sitting on the sidelines, cribbing and moaning is a lost opportunity. I don't know how people who engage in that don't commit suicide"
Bertie Ahern
04th July 2004

"All things considered therefore, it makes little sense to hold off making a purchasing decision. The level of choice and large supply of properties on the market at the moment gives the buyer huge choice."
Mr Declan Cassidy of the Gunne Reports
Summer 07

"The year 2007 will be another strong one in terms of transactions. We are likely to see something of the order of 85,000 to 90,000 houses built again. We are in for a period of modest house price inflation - something in the order of 3 per cent per annum in 2007 and 2008."
Dan McLaughlin, chief economist Bank of Ireland

"I think it is only slightly provocative to suggest that a more pertinent question is to ask why Irish house prices are rising so slowly. We expect house prices will rise by 10 percent on average in both 2006 and 2007."
Austin Hughes, Chief Economist IIB Bank
speaking on 12th May 2006

"As one who has been involved in the Irish property market for 40 years and has experienced every type of market scenario, I am totally convinced that the market is currently in good shape and that anyone buying now will do extremely well in the years ahead. There is no better investment than Irish property at present, and I believe that I will be proved right in this conviction."
Ken McDonald
25 March 2007

The Taoiseach has said he does not see a great problem with the levels of borrowing to buy property.
Mr Ahern said there had been predictions of a huge downturn in 2005.
He added the bad advice given by so many resulted in some people making mistakes when they should have bought property last year.
Bertie Ahern
Friday, April 7th, 2006

"The construction industry, to its credit, has responded to these demand pressures by increasing its output very substantially. Over the last 10 years, over half a million new dwellings were built. Last year saw the construction of a record 81,000 units. We are now building 20 houses for every 1000 people living here, compared to just 5 per thousand for the EU as a whole."
Brian Cowen
13th of April 2006

"I'm not an economist but I firmly believe that the market has levelled off and that we'll not see any more price drops in 2008. The recent reform to stamp duty will prove that."
Liz O'Kane, television presenter

"We're at, or very close to, the bottom now and it's turning around"
Tom Parlon, Newstalk Breakfast Show
11/02/08

“The property market is in simple terms a sub-set of economic activity and the fundamentals that have been driving the Irish housing market for many years now are completely unique and cannot be compared to other economies.

It is simply technically incorrect to assume that that Irish house prices will decline significantly simply on the basis that this has occurred in other economies where the fundamentals were so different. It is also irresponsible to suggest that the ‘negative equity’ scenario that occurred in the late 1980’s in the UK could occur in Ireland"
Marie Hunt
CBRE Press Release 17/04/07

"If I was to give advice to people, I would say, go out and buy some property now. It's great value."
Frank Fahey
Saturday March 15 2008

"Everybody said we're going to see a huge downturn in 2005 leading in 2006. They were entirely wrong and really we should have an examination into why so many people got it so wrong. My view is there's not a great problem. The bad advice of last year given by so many has maybe made some people make some mistakes. I mean, quite frankly, if you had taken the advice a year ago, you would have lost a lot of money."
Bertie Ahern, Fianna Fail TD
9th April 2006

With thanks to the Property Pin. If you have any more comments, please send them to us, along with a source for the comments.