Mr. Patrick Davitt:

I refer to Deputy Durkan's question on the cost of the one third, one third and one third and also the Housing Finance Agency loan scheme. We do not believe the cost of building is 50-50; 50% on the cost of the house and 50% on the cost of the charges that go with it.

We do not believe that is the case and have seen no proof it is, despite the fact we have been asking for this information for some time, even from the Government.

On the day I mentioned when I questioned the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, he told me openly that he had a friend in Cork who builds 50 houses every year and that the cost of building them was not even €100 per square foot. We believe that. We believe builders can easily build for €50 per square foot if they want, because builders in different towns have told us they can build for less than €100 per square foot. There is no backup for €100 per square foot, other than from small builders. They are the only ones who have come up with that.

We believe the capped building scheme, at €100 per square foot, would be a reasonable and well-paid scheme for small builders. We believe that where costs are stated to be €100 per square foot, those costs must be explained by somebody in the know. We are not professionals in that area; we are auctioneers. Builders can show what can be done, but we need to take a toothbrush to that. We need to ask how much it costs for each part of the building process. We cannot just say that is it and take it from there.

Years ago, in 1978, I built my first house with a loan from the county council. It gave me a loan of £7,500 at an interest rate of 12.5%. At that time, interest rates on loans from the county council remained the same for the term of the loan and the only way one could get out of that arrangement was to get a bank to give a loan at a cheaper rate and the money could go back to the county council. Those were very good schemes and were badly needed at the time. They are needed again now. Building could be done by county councils now and finance could be provided by the councils or finance agencies. We would agree with that.