Brian Lenihan, Minister for Finance

Seanad Eireann speech, 14 May 2008:

"However, what we do know is that the underlying demand for housing remains strong, driven by a relatively young population and continued inward migration. While we may experience a year or two of sub-50,000 completions, it is reasonable to expect over the medium term that annual completions will return to sustainable levels which will remain high by international standards, reflecting the strong underlying demand for housing in Ireland.

[...]

However, one aspect of the change in the housing market, which is being overlooked by commentators, is that the moderation in house price levels, when combined with measures on stamp duty and mortgage interest relief, taken by the Government at budget time, means that better value is being obtained for those wishing to buy their own home, particularly amongst the first-time buyer group."

Irish Times, 24 October 2010:

MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan has said the bank guarantee scheme was "a necessary first step" and "the cheapest bailout in the world so far".

Irish Independent, 4 April 2010:

Brian calls the bottom!

"One of the good things about the steep discount, averaging 47 per cent, is that the residential property market will now be stabilised at a realistic level."

You can now buy in confidence that the price is realistic."

Ned O'Keeffe, Fianna Fail TD

Dail Eireann debate, 23 September 2009:

It is with great pride that I support my Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, in introducing this wonderful and badly needed rescue of the economy, property developers and the banking system.


Irish Examiner, 22 Mar 2009:

"I don’t miss the ministry, I miss the money. [...] They’re good-money jobs. They have a very attractive salary, very attractive pensions."

Dail Eireann, 30 March 2010:

In reference to Matthew Elderfield, the Financial Regulator:

"We do not want foreigners in here. Michael Collins, Liam Lynch, Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, would not have those foreigners running our business. It is about time we looked after our Irish people who are well educated.


Dail Eireann, 21 April 2010:

"I do not agree with my colleague Deputy O’Flynn, as this country is over-regulated. I come from a farming background and no people are more regulated than the Irish farming community on foot of European regulation. I do not want to see that situation imposed further in other sectors of society."


[...]

If I were a bank manager in any small town, I would not give out a bob because I would be under strict regulation. I would be so frightened of losing my job that the best I could do would be to keep the money and let the bank reinvest it. There is nothing worse than overregulation.

[...]

I want to be fair to everyone in the House, the various sides of which have said much, but Pat Neary was a decent and honest man.


[...]

I am a shareholder in many financial institutions. I will declare it in the House because I was questioned last week by journalists. I have shares in Lloyds TSB in the UK and Standard Chartered Bank. I would not be very wealthy, but I have a few quid. My portfolio also includes the Royal Bank of Scotland, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Irish Permanent.

[...]

Much work needs to be done without regulation. This is the House to do all of that. We are the bosses. It is what we are elected to do. People put their confidence in us and send us to the Dáil. It should not be down to regulation and people doing the work for us.

John Mulcahy, NAMA Expert

Irish Independent, 18 July 2007:

"The Irish commercial property market is extremely healthy, but the residential property market needs to take some fiscal Solpadeine before returning to wiser ways [...] The prospects for next year look equally promising"

Dail Joint Committee on Draft NAMA Legislation, 31 August 2009:

"...while my natural humility gets in the way, I have been a bear for the past four years."

(I believe that 31 August 2009 is 2 years and 1 month after 18 July 2007- CMcK)

Dermot Ahern, Fianna Fáil Minister

Newstalk radio, Oct 15 2008:

Dermot calls the bottom!

"The housing market is at the bottom"

"Prime Time", RTE 1 TV, 3 Feb 2009:

"No one's really responsible. [The economic crisis] just happened."

Frank Fahey, Fianna Fáil TD & Property Investor

Irish Independent, March 15 2008:

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

[...]

"[I am] not wealthy by any means".

The Galway West deputy, who either fully or partly owns more than 40 properties around the world -- as well as a share portfolio and an interest in a construction company -- claimed that his bank manager was not very happy at the moment.



Galway Independent, 28 Jan 2009:

"This is a great time for first-time buyers to buy. It is now a buyers' market. There is unbelievable value out there at the moment [...] "The banks are giving loans at the moment. But be ready to make your move."


Irish Times, 1 September 2009:

"The property market will rebound... it has already started [...] Look at what the foreign banks have done to Ireland at the moment....


Irish Independent, 6 Sept 2009:

"With regard to declarations of interest, I confirm that I do not own any bank shares and that my shareholding in property has been declared in my declaration of interests and will not be of any interest to Nama"


Irish Mail on Sunday (via The Story blog), 21 March 2010:

"[A] clerical oversight"

Fahey explaining why he didn't declare a 50% interest in the construction firm Sage.

Newstalk radio, 12.45pm, 7 July 2010:

"All the assumptions are that property will go back up [...]

I have no doubt that NAMA will make a profit [...]

I heard economists from one of the universities making predictions and you can't make predictions about what's going to happen to the property market."

"NAMA will be transparent"

"I tell you one thing, Damien, [...] if I could get my hands on money at the moment, I'd be buying property"

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.

Donie Cassidy, Fianna Fail Leader of the Seanad and Property Investor

Seanad speech, 10 April 2008:

"Now is the right time to buy. We have a duty to tell first-time house buyers, young couples with no previous experience, that there is unbelievable value in the marketplace today. It will not last forever. It is never the wrong time to do the right thing. I offer the House the benefit of my experience and my opinion which is all any Member can do. I will remind the House, perhaps in 12 or 18 months, when prices have again increased by 25% or 30%, that they were told this by the Leader of the House on this historic day, the tenth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement."




Irish Independent, 16 March 2009:

In an article entitled "Senator defends gaffe on house prices":

"What nobody anticipated in Ireland was that the global thing was going to have such a downturn. Who would ever have thought in their wildest dreams that Lehman Brothers would go to the wall, that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to be bailed out?"

(Ireland was already in a downturn when Cassidy originally spoke - CMcK)

But you can't keep a good man down:

"Now is the right time to buy. [...] It's a fantastic opportunity. From a young person's point of view, you can buy a four-bedroom semi-detached house for €200,000 in the Midlands. These houses were €320,000 two years ago"

Irish Mail on Sunday, 31 Oct 2010 (via politics.ie):

"a personal rather than a business decision"

- in response to the Irish Mail on Sunday questioning him about the transfer of the family home to his wife.

Bertie Ahern, Former Taoiseach & Leader of Fianna Fáil

RTE News, April 7th, 2006:

"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. "

Irish Times, 28 April 2007:

"On the other side of the election we'll get back to normality. And I think that normality will be the soft landing. The construction projections were that we will move from something like 93,000 houses to 80-something. Now that's not going to create any kind of a difficulty."

RTE, July 2007:

"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 because frankly the only thing that motivates me is being able to actively change something."



Fianna Fail website (cache), September 2007:

"But there is no place for negativity. No need for any pessimism. Above all, there is no place for politically motivated attempts to talk down the economy and the achievements of our people across all sectors."

Irish Times, 19 Sep 2008:

"Bank of Ireland shares are € 3.80 today. Now if I meet you here next year, or the year after, do you seriously think Bank of Ireland shares will be € 3.80? I'd go out and buy Bank of Ireland shares . . . that's what I'd do."

Note: As of 11 March 2009, BOI shares were 22c (source: Yahoo Finance)

Bloomberg, 4 June 2009:

"I can’t remember anyone at any level telling me, ‘The banks are giving hundreds of millions of euros to developers, and they’re borrowing this at short rates, so if anything happens to them, they’re caught... I know some people say ‘you should have asked."

Sunday Times, 27 September 2009:

"[Sean Dunne]’s lost a lot of money on it. Sean’s just one of the guys. I know a lot of them, like [Jimmy] Flynn, [Noel] O’Flaherty and the Baileys. You meet the Baileys at Croke Park every time you go there. You can’t avoid getting a slap on the back going in from them. Most of these guys lost their shirt. I feel sorry for them."

Irish Times, 10 October 2009:

Anyway, it was the collapse of Lehman Brothers that did the real damage, Ahern insists. “That decision will in history be written as the biggest mistake that American administration ever made, because Lehmans was a world investment bank. They had testicles [sic] everywhere.”

Irish Times, 21 Nov 2009:

"Commenting on the State bailout of the banks, Bertie the Comic said "It's great to see, as a socialist, that all these things come around." As for the racecourse venue? "It's great to be here, we could all be back here on Stephen's Day. If you can't make money any other way, you can try it on a horse." It was a pity to see d'oul bank shares going down the swannee, mused the Bert. Then he looked at Sean Fitzpatrick and quipped "although I think Seanie has a bit left!" The audience almost needed oxygen, they laughed so much."