A record of some of the more choice quotes from the era of the Irish Property Bubble.
"Every age has its peculiar folly: Some scheme, project, or fantasy into which it plunges, spurred on by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the force of imitation.
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one!"
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Brian Cowen, Taoiseach
RTE News, 28 July 2006:
The Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, has dismissed suggestions that the economy is too dependent on the construction sector.
Responding to new figures showing that the sector now accounts for 25% of Gross National Product, Mr Cowen said that Ireland still had a deficit in infrastructure.
Bloomberg News, 17 July 2008:
"It's important to point out that our banking system in Ireland is very well capitalised"
[...]
"It's coming off a very strong performance over the last 11, 12 years, very strong profits"
[...]
"Our governor of our Central Bank in a report this week has confirmed the healthy nature of our banking system, as I say, well capitalised.
[...]
"We don't have the exposure, any significant exposure in the sub-prime US sector, which has caused a lot of the problems originally and I think it's important to point that out.
[...]
"I think one of the issues that's been affecting market sentiment with the share price for those companies has been a perception about exposure to the construction industry, in terms of the correction that's taken place in residential housing.
[...]
"I think it's important to point out that the underlying fundamentals of the economy remain very strong and in the absence of that particular sector, we would have seen growth of 4% in the first six months.
Irish Independent, 1 July 2009:
Biffo calls the bottom!
Mr Cowen said the slump in the housing market was nearing an end. "I believe we are coming to a point this year where that will bottom out," he said.
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