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

We make the homes affordable. If they are affordable, people will buy them. I am sorry to cut across but the single biggest determinant in people choosing to purchase a home is the cost. If the home is affordable, they are more likely to buy it. I know it sounds like a facile thing to say but it is a fact. We often have these discussions in Ireland about home ownership versus renting and one hears that we are culturally predisposed to owning our own homes but we are not; that was just the best way to get a secure and affordable home. If we want to promote different building technologies, they have to be secure, affordable and in the right place. It will take people some time to get used to them but affordability is the key.

In the context of the current housing crisis, we are talking here about constructing a two-storey volumetric building in 11 weeks, and not just the structure but the electrics, plasterboard and so on. How long would it take to build that on site? It could take nine to 12 months. It is quicker and if it is done in the right way, per square metre it can also be cheaper in terms of the all-in costs. If it is more affordable, is attractive and people like living in it then people will take to it. It is a bit like cost-rental. Everybody said that Irish people would never get accustomed to the cost-rental model but if we can offer people a really good apartment at €900 per month in Dublin city, they will get used to it.