And if the Revenue figures confirming a slowdown don't convince then turn to this week's report from Homebond, the builders' guarantee scheme. It showed that the number of new homes registered in the first six months of this year fell by an astonishing 22.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2000. Despite the pent-up demand among first-time buyers earlier in the year, registrations dropped from 20,251 to 15,669 - well below the figure for 1998.

The Department of the Environment will by now be sick of hearing of the whole range of excuses put forward for the slowdown but, according to Michael Greene of Homebond, "demand has weakened substantially". He says the fall-off in construction activity has been gaining momentum since May 2000 and it has been getting worse by the month. This will hardly be news to those selling houses outside the greater Dublin area where people willing to commute have become scarce on the ground. Several sites are unlikely to reopen after the builders' annual holidays. Happily, there are still builders who can buck the trend. Seamus Ross of Menolly Homes is one of these, having sold 22 new homes on two separate sites over the last three weeks. Most of these (130) were on his Ravenswood site near Clonee, the others were on the green grassy slopes of the Boyne in Drogheda. His philosophy of settling for a smaller profit margin than virtually anyone else is clearly paying off.