Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

In terms of the number of units for 2016 to 2020, it is a massive operation to try to fund the delivery of 20,000 units by 2020. Of those 20,000 units, approximately 14,000 are commercially viable at today's prices. We think in the region of 6,000 will become viable between now and 2020. By the end of 2016, we will have about 2,500 delivered and in 2017 we hope to get up to 3,500, which would make 6,000. The other 14,000 must be delivered over the remaining years, on average, because we will be ramping up our operations. Our debtors have to build up their platforms again because they ran them down during the recession. They have to recruit more carpenters, plumbers, bricklayers and whatever they need, or get subcontractors. That is what we are doing.

The planning permission extension was provided for in the NAMA Act 2009 and the subsequent Local Government Reform Act said that planning permissions could be applied for to extend it. The Deputy is correct to say that some of that planning permission might be coming to maturity and to ask if it makes sense to look at extending it again. This is a policy matter but it is something that may help. Much of the planning permissions that were got up to 2008 and 2009 were for the wrong type of product. It was for a different time and was primarily for apartments that were sometimes in locations where it just does not work and people do not want apartments. More family type housing would be more appropriate. There are certainly some planning permissions that would benefit from that. Everything that can be done to help is worth doing rather than submitting a new planning application because then one is back into the whole planning process again, with people appealing and going to An Bord Pleanála. The timeline from having a raw site to having somebody on site is two years if there are appeals all the way through the process. That is a very long time when there is a crisis in the market. The Deputy made a good point.