No Fianna Fáil Deputies turned up at the meeting about Aer Lingus, that is the real point.

A report in The Irish Times today, details the support and largesse the Taoiseach enjoys from a large number of construction companies. Does this special relationship explain the Taoiseach’s comments at the IMI national management conference in April, where he talked up the housing market, even though prices have risen by nine times the rate of wage inflation and average household debt has increased from 40% of disposable income to 130% since this Government took power?

The OECD states that the housing market was overvalued by 15% in 2005, the Central Bank states that the housing boom is unsustainable and poses a significant risk to the economy and the ESRI has expressed concern. Even the Minister for Finance tried to talk down the boom, hoping for a soft landing. Some commentators have even said that the Taoiseach's reckless comments could be seen as irresponsible. The Taoiseach's comments at Druid's Glen, that the levels of gross indebtedness due to inflated house prices are not a problem for hard-pressed mortgage borrowers, were irresponsible. On reflection, and in the light of those comments in direct contradiction of his claims, would the Taoiseach accept it was irresponsible to make such remarks?

It would be good if Deputy Sargent read the 40 minute speech I made in Druid's Glen; quite apparently he did not. He has made one remark about what I said afterwards in a press briefing where I was asked if there would be a crash. I said that I did not believe there would be a crash. I will give Deputy Sargent the same answer I gave that day. Irish residential property stock is worth €500 billion and the loan book is €100 billion so I do not see why that should create a shock. I said the same in 2003, 2004 and 2005. I said the same thing at the IMI conference almost every year and every year I had to listen to reports that the bottom would fall from the market and we would build fewer houses but that is not the case.

I went on to say that the priority of this Government is to ensure we get supply and demand. We have worked hard in this Government and successfully achieved the creation of more houses every year for nine years, both social and affordable.

People are in more debt than ever before.

The population has risen and demand has remained strong.

People are in hock with 40 year mortgages, making the speculators filthy rich.

Somewhere along the line supply and demand will come together. The reality is that there are cautionary issues about 100% mortgages. We all agree on that.

The Taoiseach is talking them up.

However, we should not try to create a crisis in a very important part of this country's economy. We should try to promote Part V of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act 1999, provisions for social and affordable housing and shared ownership schemes.

Deputy McCormack asked a question yesterday and should go away. We are successfully promoting the provisions I have just mentioned. This is why we are building more than 80,000 houses, four times the rate found in the UK, five times the European rate and a rate which is far higher than the US rate. Our construction sector is healthy, people are buying houses and we are trying to do as much as we can. We will spend €2 billion on social housing this year so the Opposition should not lecture me about our record on social and affordable housing. This Government is doing more than any other Government in the history of this State.

Perhaps the Technical Group would allow Deputy Sargent to ask a question.