The lack of rental residential development in central Dublin and other booming cities including Cork and Galway is not helping. It may ultimately compromise the country's ability to attract foreign direct investment, according to Hibernia REIT chief executive Kevin Nowlan, of the Ireland's biggest property investors. The problem was thrown into sharp relief earlier this year when a technology firm leased the first 27 apartments to be put on the market at Wyckham Point in Dundrum, a Hibernia REIT development. While there is plenty of new office construction now in the pipeline, there is still a worrying lack of finance for new residential property in areas near offices such as Dublin's central business district, Nowlan said at the time. "The shortage of office space is well documented but in many ways it is as important that residential rental development be accelerated as well," he said.