Mr. Michael Cleary:

I wish to add to what my colleague, Mr. Mahon, said. Getting that granular so that we are clear on it, the issue is that, unfortunately, it is not like the production of a motor car where this or that piece costs so much and there is someone on the production line. What has happened, particularly in the downturn, is that if people - we are not builders, but to give the committee a sense of how they go about it - go to build a house they will want someone to put in lights, skirting boards and doors, as well as someone laying the blocks. They will do a deal with someone. They do not care about their labour costs but they will want a fixed price for that. The reflection in what my colleague and his colleagues are putting together is what are the rates for sub-structure and structure. Within that there has to be an in-built cost for labour but the cost for labour may not reflect the true cost because in the last five or six years someone was just buying turnover, for want of a better term.

Maybe it is for the construction industry representatives, the builders as such, to give the committee more on that. However, one may ask what the labour costs are within that. The reality is, no more than anyone building anything, that one tries to fix a price with someone for it. The sense is that over the last few years, they were pricing below margin.