Ireland's reputation as an attractive place to live is waning, according to IBEC.
However the business group says we cannot let a sense of hopelessness take over.
According to its latest report, 70 per cent of companies listed housing as a 'key challenge', and its leading to serious problems with staff retention.
IBEC Director of Lobbying and Influence Fergal O’Brien says the government needs to do more, as people are more restricted when it comes to financing.
'It's absolutely crucial that we don't let this sense of hopelessness around housing envelope us.
We've actually set out a broad range of things that can be done.
We've a real problem now in terms of financing the construction of new homes.
We went from a scenario where we were almost wholly reliant on bank lending.
Now because of ECB regulations, we're not going to have banking as a primary source, so the state is going to have to play a bigger role.'
