Well thats what I think anyway!

How could lower interest rates encourage lending? Surely low interest rates make lending an unattractive option to the banks when risk of default is high and profit on loans historically low.

Property is still an effective way of keeping an economy running. Houses need all sorts of materials in their building and fitting and people need to furnish their new homes. How would we encourage banks to lend and the public to borrow.

The old rule of thumb suggested that a single borrower, having a 20 per cent deposit, should be able to borrow 2.5 times their annual income. Thus someone on an average income of 33,000 pa with a 20,000 deposit can afford a property of about 110,000 euro. You wont get a one bed box for that anywhere in Ireland in March 09.

Property prices still have a long way to fall and they should be allowed to fall so that first time buyers can realistically buy property.

But, what of the hundreds of thousands of people who currently hold mortages and remortages costing twice or three times the true (not current) value of their poperties? They are the ultimate losers in all of this! They're the ones who have been taken to the cleaners by the greed of bankers, developers, auctioneers and fellow house buyers.

If we facilitate them by keeping house prices artificially high then no new home can or should be bought.

A fixed term low interest rate of about 1.5 per cent for these existing mortagees might be one way of allowing them to play catch up with new home owners in the near to mid term.

In the meantime a fixed higher rate of about 5 per cent for those taking new loans would encourage banks to lend and since the rate would be fixed over a period borrowers could be confident that repayments would stay the same regardless.

I also read that the German government has a scheme to facilitate employers in retaining staff on a shorter working week basis. This retains jobs and confidence in the economy while saving the state considerable amounts in unemployment benefits.

Another great idea.Well thats what I think anyway!