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

Would any of the witnesses like to comment on the point I made at the start? We were talking about a gap between affordability and viability.

We are now talking about a different gap, and we have to be honest that it is between the market price and a higher all-in development cost. If one looks at the document that has been circulated to industry by the Housing Agency, it states what the market price in the area is and that the all-in development cost is now above that. Even if one thought the subsidy was a good idea, and the witnesses know that I oppose the proposition, it is no longer generating affordability but just delivering things at what was the market price at a certain point. I have looked at the SCSI reports. The first one on apartments refers to an affordability challenge for anything above €350,000. Even with a large subsidy, and it could be LIHAF, and Croí Cónaithe cities fund and possibly the help-to-buy scheme, in real terms one is still looking at a €400,000 starting point for a two-bedroom apartment. Is it a problem that the debate has shifted and it is almost as if nobody has put up a hand and said the debate has shifted and it is no longer about affordability but about a different gap? Have I got that wrong?