Mr. Michael Cleary:

My area of involvement is planning and also development, so it is at the coalface in terms of dealing with developers, the acquisition of land and the delivery of a variety of development projects.

To cut to the chase on some of the issues, in terms of private sector output, the number one issue, as members have heard previously, is the availability of reasonable construction finance. Regardless of whether the house is affordable or it is an open market transaction, the physical supply of housing is being affected by the issue of the availability of construction finance.

As everyone is aware at this stage, this is a legacy of what has gone on over the past seven or eight years when the banking system has not been available to support construction. One recommendation we have made a number of times in this regard is the provision of a specialist construction finance bank and while members have heard this suggestion previously, it needs real consideration. The policy objective behind its implementation would be to build up a strong banking system in that area that was a bit like ACC Bank or ICC Bank and which targeted particular areas of infrastructure and of housing construction. One then would have expertise in that area which understood the risks associated with construction and which then could build up relationships with the appropriate people to support that construction base. At present, the majority of construction finance is being delivered by the real estate investment trusts, REITs, through their building of the office schemes. Beyond that, however, it is being delivered by a variety of private equity houses and while it already has been well documented, the percentage rates of finance in this regard vary anywhere from 8% to 15%, which is simply unsustainable. We perceive this to be a big issue.

The second issue is the availability of housing land and there has been a variety of well-reported sales transactions for private land. We differentiate between what is a crisis in delivery of housing where there is a need and where there is a want - or a desire should I say - in that it is all well and good for someone to bid on sites and pay whatever price he or she can at open market value. If such people who have the capacity to buy that house make such a transaction, that is the private market in action and perhaps it should go its own way.

However, if there is a real housing need - as there is - we are of the view it should be supported in a much more rigorous way. One option available in this regard is through the housing associations. They have been filling a gap both over the past five or six years and going back a further 100 years when they were set up originally. They have advanced over time and offer a real specialist service in this regard. From the society's knowledge and my personal, professional knowledge of dealing with some of the larger entities, they have the capacity that would lead on to possibly freeing up the local authorities to do much more of the planning side, as well as the long-term strategic side in respect of the advancement of planning on the basis of strategic development zones. While not all the strategic development zones worked that well, some that have worked have worked quite well. If one takes the docklands in Dublin, for example, while residential housing is not necessarily happening there at present, a number of other projects have come to fruition on the basis of a strategic development zone, SDZ.

In summary, we suggest the planning system needs to be streamlined in order that when measures like SDZs are undertaken throughout Ireland, this would be the planning process, rather than local area plans, regional plans and then county plans every seven or eight years. This is a real area that can be focused upon. Moreover, the society suggests all this could be under the auspices of an entity - such as a housing Minister of a type - in which one would have a full-time professional Civil Service that would support it, would take those work streams and apply itself to it and which would report back to a central entity.

I will pick the example that is familiar to me of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. When that body was set up originally, the entire area was derelict and were one to bring back someone who had departed this Earth in 1989 or 1990 and were one to drop them down on the north or south quays of Dublin, they would not recognise these areas in the docklands in particular. They would ask how this could have happened, would say it was unfathomable and yet this was done on the basis of a strategic development plan supported by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. We understand that in the long term, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority did not end up in the manner in which it was envisaged but for the years it was in place, it did a majority of good work in the early days. We need its equivalent, albeit perhaps on a national scale, to deal with this issue.

As an introductory piece, the society would suggest we must be focused both on the immediate issues before us today and on avoiding being caught out from the planning point of view. We should look at the long-term issues in respect of the current demographics and the age profile of people in housing. Any person or entity taking on this role should have a remit to consider the long term and it is extremely difficult, when one carries out short-term planning, to deal on a long-term basis. One can quote reports going back 40 years, such as the Buchanan report and others, that had highly strategic views and which needed support over the lifetimes of multiple administrations to make them happen.

Finally, in terms of high-level issues, on the implementation and cost of public versus private housing, my colleague, Mr. Mahon, referred to a relevant piece of work that the guys on the quantity surveying side have done, and it would be of real benefit to anyone. If one wanted a stimulus, one of the immediate elements one would pick - it does not matter whether it is in the private or public sector - would be a reduction in VAT. In the middle of all that, in terms of granular provisions, it is what needs to be done to assist development. Another granular issue that might assist in development is a reduction in levies, as is the finance costs which I referred to earlier.