Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have two questions for the witnesses from the CCMA. The expansion of the serviced site fund was mentioned. Will the witnesses tell us more about that? What is envisaged? Is it that there will be flexibility in the amounts and it will be possible to go beyond €50,000 or will the amounts be fixed? If the approach is that of some flexibility, how would that be worked out? I ask the witnesses for more detail on that.

Part of the process of achieving housing affordability must focus on driving down the costs of delivery and construction. Is the CCMA considering that aspect? Has the possibility of more universal internal design been considered to achieve economies of scale, for example, in procuring internal fittings? I do not believe universal external design is desirable or a good idea.

Is the cost procurement process being examined to see what might be done to lower the costs of construction? There have been issues with some larger developments, for example. If they have not been broken up, only a couple of large developers bid in the tender process. The resultant lack of competition has been driving up costs. Has consideration been given to breaking up some of the bigger projects so that smaller bidders can make bids? That would then bring costs down. Does that form part of the work being done on the serviced sites fund? That is one way of bridging the affordability gap. However, we should also be looking at areas where we can drive costs down while maintaining good standards. I ask the witnesses to expand on those issues.