Professor Michael Doherty:

The first point is the issue of inconvenience, which I accept is associated with planning permissions, including all of the ones Senator Cummins listed. But there are then non-starters, where there is no pathway forward. It is not an inconvenience, it is a non-starter when people do not have the €50,000 or €60,000 they need to rebuild a home. That has to be priority number one. That is what downsizing offers, should a homeowner decide to go that way, as long as there is not a penalty, such as they are trying to impose at the moment. That is number one.

The second issue is that when it comes to the inconvenience factor, there have been conversations already around not having to go through planning, so long as one is working off the same footprint of the home. Even if the footprint was shortened somewhat to make it a smaller home, they would largely be on the same plot as they were before and exemptions in that regard are being explored. With a bit of creativity, we could make all that work, and we would not have the level of inconvenience that a homeowner may have to put up with, but the starter for ten is that we need a way to get a home rebuilt when people do not have the €50,000 or €60,000 to bridge the shortfall. That is where penalty-free downsizing is an option and cannot be taken off the table.