The `abject failure' of successive government's to tackle under-investment in infrastructure and public transport combined with an under-supply of available housing stock are the cause of continuing house price rises in Dublin, a leading estate agent said yesterday.

Speaking after the Sherry FitzGerald Group's a.g.m in Dublin yesterday, executive chairman, Mr Mark FitzGerald, said it was a great tragedy that, after striving for decades to gain economic independence, home ownership was still not a reality for people.