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

This has been a very useful discussion, especially with regard to the issue of cost. In the course of the discussion, somebody texted me to say that the costs are exorbitant. They really are.

That is something we are going to have to examine. In a position where the State is effectively acting as the developer, where there are no land costs and no developer's premium, where the State is also subsidising the price of the home up to €150,000, we are still at a point where we are stretching the parameters of affordability. The issue there has to be the spec. It is either that or there is a restrictive tendering process that we are not getting full value for money for. It is certainly one or the other. If a community organisation came to the witnesses looking to build a community centre and it was coming in at twice the budget, all four of them would tell it to reduce the spec.

What I am taking from this session is that we are coming in at increasingly higher prices for the construction costs. If we are going to look at affordability, we are also going to have to look at the specs we are putting out to the market. That is a bigger question than the witnesses can answer in five minutes but I would appreciate if they could talk about the tendering process. Do they feel they are getting value for money? How many players are operating in any one tender? Senator Fitzpatrick and I are both very proud of having worked in Dublin City Council and we are both particularly proud of the financial contribution scheme. It is a no-brainer. It is an income stream and it allows you to pepper-pot social development in existing communities. It has higher densities, which allows you to deliver more units. Nobody ever objects to senior citizen accommodation. Is something we should be building more of. In my area, for example, some of those 28 sites that were mentioned include housing for senior citizens and I welcome that. I ask the witnesses to talk about the costs.