Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry but I must interrupt because we are well over the time for the slot. There will be a third round and Deputy Ó Broin has indicated a wish to speak again. We can return to his questions at that point. What remains now in the round is a second Green Party slot and slots for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We will then get to the third round of questions, and the first slot in that will go to the honorary member of this housing committee, Deputy Boyd Barrett.

I have some questions. We invited the delegations today because the committee is trying to do a series of three meetings, with the first of these dealing with financing social and affordable housing. This meeting is about delivery and the third meeting will have representatives of the Department and its housing delivery unit. This is so the committee can get an idea on financing and delivery obstacles and what we can do, as part of the Government or the Opposition, to try to unblock any blockages there may be in the system. Ms Loftus made some really important points earlier about land management, land banking and ownership of the land to give surety in where housing can be developed and associated costs. We know land is a very significant factor in the production of any housing, whether private or public. I will come back to this if there is time at the end.

I have a question on the 59-week process mentioned by Mr. Curran. He mentioned some of the ways that could be reduced, including site surveys done in advance. Is that something a local authority must self-fund in advance? In other words, it may have to take a chance on it before going into the four-stage process? Maybe Mr. Taaffe will answer that?