It is extraordinary that Abbey, the house builder, will build fewer houses in the Republic in the year to April 2000, than last year. In a booming building industry, it is hard to understand the expected contraction to 280 houses, from 310.

While a recovery to about 300 is anticipated in the following year, that level is expected to be maintained, leading to a contraction in its market share.

Abbey blames the escalating cost of building land and planning delays for the lower returns and says the risks are higher.

Executive chairman Mr Charles Gallagher says management changes have had no impact on the group's business.

But Hollioake, the house-building firm set up by former Irish director Mr David D'Alton, is reaping the benefits from the building boom.

It has 350 plots: 150 in Lucan and 200 in Navan. A further two to three sites with 150 plots are in the pipeline. And Hollioake is projecting to sell 200 houses this year. That means this new firm will be selling two-thirds of Abbey's level.

He settled a dispute with the company at the end of last year. Part of the settlement is understood to have involved the sale of half the plots at Lucan which Mr D'Alton had agreed to buy.

That purchase led to his suspension which he described as "completely unjustified". He had considered the Lucan land an attractive proposition and when Abbey decided not to proceed, he made the purchase himself, according to industry sources.

Abbey has always refused to discuss this episode but it could well have affected its Irish housing figures. All the Lucan plots, for example, might have been available to the group.

Other companies are also reaping the benefits from the booming domestic property market.

McInerney Holdings completed 299 units, up from 246 units in the six months to June 30th, 1999. And 600 are expected to have been completed in the full year, up from 575 units.

Like Abbey, McInerney has complained about delays in getting planning permission.

House prices could be kept down if the planning process were speeded up, according to McInerney's managing director, Mr Barry O'Connor, who says it takes a minimum of one year compared with less than six months.

While that has slowed developments, it has not stopped McInerney's ardour. Indeed, it has its sights on building 1,000 units, possibly by the year 2002. That contrasts sharply with Abbey's plans. And that also reflects contrasting financial policies.

McInerney likes to have a lot of debt - gearing in 1998 was 85 per cent - to allow it to expand more strongly. Abbey is ultra-conservative and does not want ever to see itself with high borrowings at the top of a building cycle.

But it keeps enormous cash surpluses. In 1999 it was €25.5 million (£20 million) and according to ABN-Amro it could exceed €50 million by 2002. In times of historically low interest rates that is hardly desirable.

And the decision to sell its two investment properties, in Fenian Street and Trinity Street, will boost this cash hoard substantially.

Abbey will become focused in the UK market where it expects to build 500 houses this year, up from 427 built last year.

Obviously it sees this as a growth area. While it sees the Irish market as "strong with good sales being achieved" and has completed the first phase of its planned development in Swords, its emphasis will be in the UK.

Some industry sources say Abbey has not sufficient management to expand in the Irish market and that it is finding it difficult to get an expanding niche in that market.

But some building companies see 50,000 house completions per annum being maintained up to 2007. And participation in that market is bound to be beneficial.

Abbey gets higher margins than McInerney.

It is capitalised at €124 million, higher than McInerney's €45 million. But Abbey's sales and profit growth has been much more pedestrian. Abbey's sales, for example, have risen by almost 50 per cent over the past two years, while McInerney's have almost doubled.

Also, Abbey's profits have more than doubled, but McInerney's increased 5.6-fold.

While McInerney has started from a relatively small base, it is more aggressive, and with its target for the Irish market it is catching up on Abbey - fast.

Bill Murdoch can be contacted at bmurdoch@irish-times.ie