Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations and the clarity contained within them. However, it would be necessary in future, if at all possible, for us to have more detail about the fact that local authorities are refusing units and the reasons for this. Picking up on the points made by Deputy O'Dowd, I sought further information recently from Dublin City Council about offers that NAMA had made to them. I think NAMA had offered the council in the region of 828 units. NAMA subsequently sold 190 of them. Within that, however, the main reason was the tenure mix. That was the reason given by the local authority. Some 638 were offered while 400 were taken. Some 32 units were in poor condition and had structural issues. In the case of eight of them, the council claimed, there was a low demand. Some 146 units were accepted in one development where 198 had been offered. The council only took 48 of them, again because of the tenure mix, and 46 were turned down in Ballymun as well for the same reason. In Ballymun, they are building modular homes at a cost of €250,000 per unit. They were to be built in 12 weeks but they are still not in place. How long do they take to build? How much did they cost? How much were the offers made by NAMA? What were its costs? The point was made that there is no provision for affordable homes. The local development plan may be outdated in comparison to the situation on the ground. That is why it is incumbent on NAMA and the local authorities, if at all possible, to make available to this committee at a later date more detailed analysis of what was offered, what was taken and why units were not taken for us to make a judgment on that in order to correct that issue so that the new Minister can direct local authorities to have a bit more resolve in the way in which they flippantly refuse units that are being made available while there is an emergency and a crisis out there.