Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

All colleagues are concerned about housing provision for obvious reasons. Back in 2011 there was such an overhang of housing, including in this city, that anyone who wanted to start building houses, even if the money was available - it was not - would have been taken away by people in white coats. However, rapidly we developed an acute housing shortage and a real supply problem. The NAMA representatives seem to bear out in their evidence today - I do not mean to put it pejoratively - that some of the excuses of the developers and builders are not based on commercial fact. The NAMA representatives seem to bear out that the cost of building in Ireland seems out of kilter. The example Mr. McDonagh gives is of the typical three-bedroom house valued at between €260,000 and €280,000 which could realise €300,000 now. That is modest enough. When the builders explain why we cannot get housing output up they maintain they cannot afford to build because of the cost of building. Do the NAMA representatives have any opinion on the question of whether the cost of building a house in this city or country is out of kilter with the realised price?