Criticised for years for being over cautious, and not using its bundles of cash, Abbey, the housebuilding group with locations in the Republic and the UK, partly bent to the pressure last year by buying back some of the shares, and giving the shareholders a lollipop dividend.

Still, debonair 41-year-old Charles Gallagher, who holds the two top posts of chairman and chief executive, is not for turning and remains committed to keeping the group well and truly on the conservative path.

"As a company, rightly or wrongly, we have tended to lag behind in terms of innovation," he says, explaining that "Pioneers get arrows in their backs".

Agreeing that the company is being run on "very conservative lines", he says Abbey deals with its business "project by project, scheme by scheme, and we are not trying to second guess the direction of the market; we are not trying to speculate on rising and falling prices, we have a margin which provides a cushion which allows us to trade through difficult trading periods".

Nevertheless, he is confident that the company will continue to grow strongly, particularly in the Republic. He envisages reaching an annual target of 1,000 houses - 600 here and 400 in the UK - in three to five years time, compared with 680 now. This would more than double the house numbers in the Republic, where it has sites in Clonsilla, Lucan, Swords, Navan and Kildare.

"We are looking at areas within 40 to 45 miles from Dublin; we are not likely to go outside that area, in the short-term anyway." And he is not looking at takeover targets, nor is his company a prey. Abbey has no intention of expanding outside its existing main markets, nor is it interested in diversification.

In its previous financial year, it sold off its investment properties (an office block on Fenian Street and a multistorey car-park on Trinity Street, Dublin), making it a pure housebuilding company, apart from a plant-hire business in the UK. With investment property prices rising, weren't those sales premature? "No", is the quick response, "we were not making an investment call; it wasn't a judgement on the investment market as we believed the market would go up . . . it was a judgement that the value of the investments was not reflected in our balance sheet."

He notes that the majority of the group's shareholders are institutions which can buy property direct and take the income gross, while Abbey had to pay tax on the income. "Effectively, a pound of property in Abbey was reflecting only 50p in value to shareholders, so we decided to sell the properties and, in effect, return the relevant capital to shareholders."

Those sales were made at a substantial profit; according to the last annual report, they produced a profit of £3.56 million. According to Mr Gallagher, this also went down well with institutions. While Irish institutions continue to lighten their shareholdings in Irish companies, "We have been attracting significant interest from the UK and the US. I have had calls from substantial investors in the US, one already an investor, another looking at it. They are interested in what they call `buying into value situations' . . . we are getting quite a response."

Was he interested in setting up a website to re-image the company to help in the sale of houses? "No, I'm not interested in the Web. I have to weigh up the costs against the benefits."

However he doesn't rule it out completely. "I suppose in the next while we will go on to it, but we want to go on to it in a cost-effective way. We monitor closely the number of houses claimed to have been sold on websites. It is still very very low . most houses are sold through newspaper advertising or local knowledge."

Abbey operates in the Republic through a company called Kingscroft Developments. Asked about complaints from customers, Mr Gallagher says "We have no outstanding litigation about defects. All builders from time to time have customer care issues and we address them. I am not saying we have not had complaints; we do get complaints and we address them as all builders do."

ABBEY, in common with some small companies, does not adhere to the corporate governance guidelines on splitting the chairman and chief executive roles.

"My job in Abbey is that of executive chairman, so the company does not formally recognise the role of chairman and/or chief executive that is widely used. In Abbey, we have three operating businesses, and the principal one is the UK business. Brian Hawkins is the managing director of that, and a director of the group."

Asked if there is any possibility that the Gallagher family, which controls over 29 per cent of the company, valued at some £29 million (#37m), might make a bid to turn Abbey into a private company, he responds quickly.

"Gosh, I don't foresee such a situation in the near future," he says, noting that Abbey is committed to remaining as a public company. On buying further shares he stresses, "Well, that is not a matter entirely for me", adding he is one member of a wider family.

"I have now turned 40 and when you talk about my family, I have five children. I also have eight brothers and sisters, and they are married with children - and that family holds shares in the company which is over 29 per cent."

Mr Gallagher, not noted for returning phone calls, chooses what information he releases. A breakdown of his personal shareholding is not revealed because, according to a company spokeswoman, it is personal information.