Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Can I just stop Mr. Doyle there? The State, through the local authorities, has had a considerable land bank. The output, in terms of direct builds, is woefully inadequate and below what has been announced. There seems to be impediments to direct builds, which are the most cost-efficient way of delivering housing stock because there will be an asset at the end. However, we seem to be taking this lazy option of going for long leases and, essentially, tying up money in perpetuity. One is effectively paying the mortgage on those properties for 25 years, refurbishing those at the end and handing them back to the owner or developer. I cannot for the life of me see how that is value for money. Indeed, when we had the Think-tank for Action on Social Change, TASC, in, it told us it was the least cost-efficient way of delivering housing. Does value for money play a part in the thinking of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage? Is it trying to unravel the impediments to getting local authorities directly building? What is it doing in relation to that? We will not get to value for money unless we do that.