The Government's housing record was criticised in a Fine Gael private member's motion.

The party's spokeswoman on housing, Ms Olivia Mitchell, said planning applications this year so far were down by 9 per cent.

"Registration of housing starts are down by 21 per cent.

"Heaven knows what the drop will be by the end of the year," she added.

Mr Eamon Gilmore (Labour, D·n Laoghaire) said the Government's biggest failure lay in the provision of social housing and the regulation of the private rented sector.

The Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Molloy, said the Government's publication of action on house prices in April, 1998, was the first of three major policy initiatives on housing.

Its primary focus was to increase housing supply through a range of infrastructural and tax measures and to prevent investors pricing first-time buyers out of the market, he added.