According to the latest figures provided by the Department of Finance, legal firm, William Fry has received €3.1m in fees over the past five years concerning its work on the case.

A €750m State fund for developers to build at least 6,000 homes will be rolled out in the summer, but loans will be treated strictly like any commercial agreement operated by banks.

After slowing to 5.5% in June 2016, annual house price inflation has been on a strong upward trend since then.

Developers will be charged as low as 4% interest on state loans to construct houses under the new Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) scheme.

There have been angry exchanges in the Dáil today over the budget and Brexit.

Paschal Donohoe’s first budget was a bit like The Late Late Show — something for everyone in the audience, a stand-still patchwork quilt that is prudent and sober but lacking in ambition. It tinkers at the edges but fails to offer an overall vision for the future.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has attempted to frame budget 2018 as a financial plan focussed on protecting hard-pressed households, acting to tackle the housing crisis and to create new defences from the Brexit fallout.

The Ministers from the various departments have given their press briefings on what the Government has billed as a budget developed as a national response to new risks and opportunities.