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

I thank Ms Hegarty, Mr. Doyle and Ms Donaghy for their presentations. Starting with the Irish Council for Social Housing, the committee would be interested in what our guests are hearing from their members about what is happening on the ground at the moment with respect to both what I call own developments, usually Part 8s but also turnkeys, and Part Vs. I am referring to projects that are on site at the moment or potential developments for which the council is in the beginnings of negotiating, especially for turnkeys and Part Vs that may not be commenced yet. What is the picture? Is there a difference between Dublin and outside it? I am very much hearing there are significant challenges outside Dublin of a different nature than the ones we are used to hearing in here.

The second issue is the Housing Finance Agency's, HFA, interest rate hikes. Obviously, some of the council's members were very critical of those and we were all quite surprised when they happened. I think the position of the HFA is it is a little more sanguine and thinks the council's members have the capacity to absorb them. If Mr. Doyle and Ms Donaghy could talk the committee through that, it would be helpful.

Turning to Ms Hegarty, and we may have a chance in this round, but if not, we will come back in the second round, much of what she has said, none of which I disagree with, is from my understanding very appropriate to the dynamics in Dublin and to a lesser extent in Cork. When I talk to SME builders who are building a lot of what are essentially turnkey developments for the AHB sector outside the cities, their model of development is not as speculative and therefore the impact of costs and material inflation is more significant for their viability. I would appreciate Ms Hegarty commenting, if she could, on those types of projects. I am not talking about the big speculative ones she is referring to in the main but rather the dynamics as to how cost-price inflation could be having an impact on housing supply, especially for the social housing sector but also for the affordable housing sector outside the city. Her points about developments, particularly in Dublin city, are well made.