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

I thank the delegates for their presentations and submissions.

Accepting the fact that we do not know how things are going to pan out and that we could spend a large amount of time in speculating, the real issue is that there are potential negatives. Like the ESRI and the Nevin Economic Research Institute, Dr. Duffy has, rightly, pointed to the potential impact on costs, including the cost of finance, materials and the supply of labour and, as a result, the supply of homes by the private sector. I am encouraged by several of his recommendations, including increasing the supply of new social housing. However, it is not just the supply of social housing but affordable housing that we need to increase. If there is a reduction in the supply by the private sector in any way, it will also impact on affordability, irrespective of one's views on the relationship between the two.

From Dr. Duffy's engagement with the Government, does he get the sense that contingency planning for Brexit in the context of the supply of housing has been given the same priority as jobs, trade and other aspects? My own sense is that there has been less of a focus on housing and the disruption Brexit could cause. Has Dr. Duffy been involved in discussions with the Department or other sectoral organisations on contingency planning? What changes would need to be made to deal with the matter?

The attached paper highlights the need to reduce construction costs. Our construction costs are not bad. The Housing Agency study published earlier this year showed that they were broadly comparable with those in other EU member states. It is non-construction development costs which are causing us difficulty, whether it be the price of land, the cost of finance, taxes, etc. The report of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland on apartment costs made seven recommendations aimed at reducing costs. Even if they were all to be implemented, we would still have a viability problem in delivering apartments at prices that would be affordable for families earning less than €80,000 a year. Which cocktail of policies would Dr. Duffy prefer to see to reduce costs? Does he believe they would deal with the issue of viability in a benign post-Brexit scenario and, more importantly, a malign post-Brexit scenario?