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

It might be useful if we re-circulate the original proposal that was agreed by the last committee. Essentially, my proposal is very simple. Instead of this committee producing a big report involving meeting representatives of the industry, experts and so on, the idea is to invite one person who was directly involved in the production of each of the five reports published between 1972 and three years ago to appear before the committee. This will be possible in all cases but one, namely the Kenny report. There is nobody still alive who was involved in its production but we could bring in some independent expert on it. The idea is that those invited will just talk to the committee about the recommendations of each report and which ones they believe are relevant today. It is almost like we are trying to conduct a review of the recommendations of those reports.

The key issue here is very simple. Periodically there is a spike in land prices which then pushes up the costs of development which pushes up the cost of delivering residential units, particularly in our urban centres. The political system gets itself in a kerfuffle, somebody says that we need to do something about this, a report is commissioned, recommendations are made and then the report sits on the shelf until the next affordability or land-price bubble crisis. The idea is to look at those recommendations and for the committee to consider whether any of them is relevant today. Dublin city Deputies will know that the unit price of land for residential development, for a house or an apartment, is between €60,000 and €100,000, which essentially adds that amount onto the purchase price. In suburban Dublin, where I live, the unit price is €25,000 to €35,000 and it falls as one goes further out from the centre. Cork has similar problems, as does Galway and Waterford. I am suggesting that we simply review the previous reports' recommendations. I refer to reports by the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, and the Kenny report.