Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Huge projects take a long time, but it means that small projects do not. This country is full of small sites. Dublin city has loads of them. Would the Minister not admit that there is a major concentration by local authorities on the big bang effect of big sites? Why are the small sites not happening and why do we not get the small builders back in the game? There are small builders all over the country dying to do work and they are not looking for a profit of €20,000 or €40,000 a unit. The builders I know are probably different from builders that Frank Daly might know but they are not looking for that kind of profit. If they made between €5,000 and €10,000 profit per unit they would be delighted with themselves and more than happy.

Perhaps the Minister could clarify if it is possible to activate a lot of the smaller sites and get the smaller builder back in? However, we are then back to the finance problem again. Can the State start organising finance for smaller builders because the banks will not give finance to them? The banks do not want to lend to them. Most of the building which goes on in this town today is being done by investment funds and the Irish banks are not funding it. However, those guys come up with their own money and they are dominating what is being built at the moment. Developers such as Kennedy Wilson and Hines are building now but they are only building for the rental market and do not have to worry about having to sell the units at a low price.