Mr. Joe MacGrath:

I will refer to some issues that were the subject of questions. The committee has representatives from four different local authorities before it, with four different sets of circumstances. I might present a slightly different picture in Tipperary, a large county with a drive time of about two and a half hours from north to south and with a dispersed population. Clonmel is the largest town in the county but there are seven or eight towns with a population of more than 4,500. That brings its own challenges in meeting housing needs. We must adapt Rebuilding Ireland and its five pillars to address the critical need and build for the future. It probably goes without saying that the local authorities, from chief executives, to directors of services, to engineers and everyone else, are fully committed to the delivery of the targets that are set in Rebuilding Ireland.

The Department had significant dialogue with each individual local authority about the targets set for them. The targets have been made clear and it is important to have targets. It is important to have a set of targets which clearly indicate if we are going some way towards meeting our needs. I would not like anyone to think that the target is treated by the local authority as a ceiling. We plan to go beyond those targets. We have outlined, in our opening statement, the overall target of 625 units in Tipperary for 2021. We now believe that will come in somewhere in the region of 769 units. That is 144 ahead of target. We have added the point in our presentation, albeit at a very early stage, that there are some 300 units in early discussion - some turnkey, some AHBs - with which we are also involved. It is important to say that targets are targets. We are confident that those targets will be achieved and surpassed. We do not treat them as a ceiling. We are ambitious not only to achieve our targets, but go beyond them. It is important to say and that ambition would be shared right across the local authorities. I acknowledge the kind comment that was made acknowledging the submissions.

My colleague, Ms Carr, might want to come in on some of the other details, but if I was to highlight a concern in Tipperary in the context of future housing provision and existing housing provision in a rural town, it would be in relation to the existing and future provision of private housing within the county because there has been little or no activity in terms of private housing development within the county for many years. The CSO figures for 2017 show a figure of somewhere in the region of 187 private housing units, with fewer than 30 of those within scheme development. We see the need to address that issue. We have had discussions with the Construction Industry Federation, CIF, at local level about the reasons for that. One of the reasons is the cost of providing the house versus the sale price. One can buy a three-bedroom house in Clonmel, Nenagh or Thurles for €170,000. That is very good value. Our strategy had been to pursue the purchase of housing to address the immediate need, recognising that new houses have to come in after that, but the actual purchase price is in the region of €170,000 or €175,000. The CIF advises that the price would need to rise to about €220,000 to make it economic compared with the build cost. That is an issue.

It is not all about big developers building developments of 200 or 300 units in Tipperary. The backbone of social housing provision in many counties is small and medium-sized builders who build schemes of ten, 15 and 20 houses. They tell us they are struggling to get access to the funding to start working a site. Those are the main constraints for the private sector.

That said, there have been encouraging preplanning discussions in recent months about future housing provision. There is a higher level of engagement about turnkey developments as well. It is to be hoped that corner can be turned. I assure the committee that Tipperary County Council is focused on its responsibility to deliver and exceed Rebuilding Ireland targets and is ambitious to do that.

My colleague might wish to comment on some of the particular issues.