Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While I understand that, part of the role of elected members, whether in a local authority or here, is to say, "If I am being asked to sign up to something, if I am going to approve a Part 8 planning process and sign up to this section 85 and allow this project to go ahead, am I satisfied that it is a good use of taxpayers' money?" That is in no way to suggest that the people involved in the tendering or procurement process do not have great professional expertise. That is all private, behind closed doors and not in the public arena.

Is Mr. McCarthy seriously suggesting that Deputies and their council colleagues will have to make a decision on signing up to this completely new model of delivering social housing - with potentially higher levels of cost per unit than the traditional model - without knowing the ballpark of what we are speaking about? Essentially, Mr. McCarthy is stating that this is the case.