Mr. Hubert Fitzpatrick:

The labour involved in building a house is usually approximately 1.5 direct jobs or 2.5 jobs, direct and indirect, per annum. If one factors that into it, that should give a reasonable breakdown between labour and materials.

I wish to make a point regarding the hard construction costs. We looked at the hard construction costs of a house here compared to those in the UK. On a per square foot basis, the hard construction costs in Ireland were on a par with those pertaining in the UK, but the difference related to the size of house here compared with the size in the UK. House sizes in the UK are generally 20% smaller than they are in this country. It is the other soft costs which are out of line with those pertaining in the UK. In the UK, there is a 0% VAT rate and there would not be the same extent of development levies and so forth. We were anxious to address this issue over the past 12 to 18 months. The hard construction costs are broadly in line on a square foot basis, but it is the other related issues that are causing the difficulties, including size.