Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their briefing. I am always impressed by how informative they are. It is a special resource. As Deputies and Senators, we have to be briefed by the witnesses who are pressing the buttons and pulling the levers. There is much that I could say. Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine war have increased costs. Inflation in product prices and the labour shortage in the construction sector are, as I understand from the witnesses' contributions, the main contributors to the rising cost of housing delivery, which we are all here to try to address. I am particularly concerned about small contractors and those involved in social housing and their experience of negative financial impacts. I am particularly interested in those which are less able to absorb the costs. I am interested in the witnesses' proposals to cushion the economic blow for contractors and housing providers.

I have three questions about inflation. There is a proposal to reduce the soft costs, such as VAT, which the witnesses may have covered already. Have there been talks between the witnesses and the Department about any of those measures? I come from the construction profession. Is there any indication that material costs will decrease? Are they here to stay? Do the witnesses see any solutions to that? The Government cannot keep reducing soft costs. Have the witnesses done any modelling on previous price cycles to see where, when or if we will come out of this? The same applies to apprentices. I know the witnesses mentioned capacity earlier. Are we at capacity yet? When will we be at capacity with apprenticeships? The witnesses mentioned going outside the country to bring people in. I hope I am being politically correct. We had many eastern Europeans working in the sector and many went home. Some 750 million people live in Europe and I am sure there are many tradespeople who would like to work here. I know accommodation is a problem. Will materials costs decrease or stay as they are? When will we reach capacity with apprenticeships?