Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. There was a group outside Leinster House and I wanted to attend to them.

I thank the witnesses for appearing before is. I was here for the meeting's beginning but missed its middle, so I apologise.

One of the principal issues around the cost of delivery is that it impacts our ability to deliver – that is stating the obvious – and particularly the affordable part of Housing for All. The social housing programme is what it is and the numbers are starting to be delivered, but the real question is around the ability of local authorities and approved housing bodiess to take on the new tools under Housing for All to deliver local authority-led affordable housing. I would like to speak about this structure and how we might reduce costs and inflation.

There are two sites in my area - sites 12 and 14 in Ballymun - on local authority lands. Under Housing for All, they will be developed by Dublin City Council for affordable purchase housing. They will all be available to people with incomes of above €36,000 or, if they have larger families, €42,000, but the question that arises is whether their prices will be within the €80,000 that Ms Hegarty, in light of previous developments, has estimated will be the income that someone borrowing from the council will need. Each of the two sites involves 100 houses and no apartments and one would hope that both of them will be simpler than O'Devaney Gardens or the Oscar Traynor Road site. If each unit's construction cost to the builder comes in at €400,000 and the subsidy from the State is up to €100,000, the borrower would require €300,000. Obviously, the borrower would need a deposit of €30,000. The combined income to purchase that home, be it a two- or three-bedroom house, would be €77,000. If the construction cost was €300,000, the combined income required would only be €51,000. That is a significant difference. The State is providing public land to the homeowner and €100,000 per unit, which is a massive subvention, and the local authority is developing it. How much more can the State do to make housing affordable on these sites when such vast amounts of public money are going into making them affordable? These are small, uncomplicated sites. The purchase price might even be below the building cost, given that one can purchase homes in Finglas and Ballymun for €260,000, €270,000 or €280,000. The cost of building would be above the market price and we are providing a subsidy of €100,000.

How should we persuade approved housing bodies to start delivering on these figures? They should be responsible for delivering affordable purchase housing for social mix purposes if nothing else. If the construction cost comes in at €300,000, the council will be providing affordable homes for people with incomes of between €36,000 and €80,000.

If it comes in higher, the council will not. It is a fair assessment. In the context of an entirely public transaction, where could we save on the costs?