Quotes of the Week

"Any move by the Government now to try to discredit Irish auctioneers and estate agents as in some way being to blame for inflated prices, or incompetent to value sites and buildings is utterly unjust and unfair ... It would be highly unethical and improper of the Government to engage entirely foreign expertise whose knowledge of the Irish market is limited." (John Shaw, IPAV President)

"The days of bad planning have to be over at this stage." (Environment Minister, John Gormley)

"We removed the claw back for many of the units because we felt with some of the one-beds there was very little difference between the affordable homes price and the actual market value. We thought it would be unfair to impose restrictions on such buyers. (Paul Maloney, chief executive of the DDDA.)

"It is true that the speed of the depreciation has taken some of our members by surprise, but anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a strong belief that prices have reached, or are very close to the bottom. If there is further depreciation, it is likely to result in an over-correction, which would quickly cause prices to rebound to current values." (Simon Ensor of the IAVI National Council's residential panel)