Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On institutional investors, the current data I have is that from the approximately 350,000 homes and apartments to rent, 10,000 are owned by institutional investors. This is a tiny portion. I am keeping this under review, as is the Department of Finance from a tax perspective, and I am in discussions with the Minister for Finance on this. It is important to say that institutional investors are increasing the supply and that build-to-rent is needed. These institutional investors are now captured by rent controls for the new stock they are bringing on line and if one is a tenant it does not matter if the landlord is a once-off investor or somebody who owns a number of properties. This is also important. We need to find the right balance in the sector so that we are not losing landlords from the market and so tenants are not exposed to the volatility we have had previously due to an over reliance on individual landlords. We also need to make sure that this type of finance is not crowding out the kind of finance that builds homes for people to buy for themselves. This is why we are keeping an eye on things, to make sure we do not tilt in a negative way.

The cost-effectiveness analysis is for projects estimated to cost over €20 million. I understand the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is currently reviewing this. We have 22,000 homes in the pipeline with the Department, with more than 6,000 homes currently under construction on sites up and down the country. There are no unnecessary delays with regard to what is happening in the Department. We constantly look to streamline things. Provided today are the new specifications for internal guidelines for layouts of social housing homes schemes and for the type of fit out. The purpose of finalising and providing those is that local authorities can take standard layouts and designs off the shelf. These are not done for the exterior layouts and designs because the exterior design needs to be sympathetic to the receiving area and we do not want social housing to look the same throughout the country. If we can provide 25 to 30 different types of design and specifications for internal layouts, it will be good and will help to cut timelines. There is also a proposal from the CCMA on restructuring the housing delivery office, on which I will hear more tomorrow. These are further reforms that will improve timelines for delivering social housing. There are big numbers this year: 10,000 in the stock for social housing, the majority of which will be built.