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

I have two very quick comments, which do not need a response, and then a question for both local authorities. We have to be careful not to accept that some of the tender prices the local authorities unfortunately have to sign up to are actually the real cost of building. As far back as 2019, Dublin City Council, through no fault of its own, was effectively having to sign contracts where a very small number of contractors were bidding for large, complex urban developments. There is a widespread belief in the industry, not among politicians but among other builders, that those costs are inflated. The local authorities have to work with the public procurement process and with the tenders. If there are only two tenders in the end and they both have very high prices they have to live with that. I do not accept, for example, that the tender the LDA has signed in Shanganagh is the actual cost of building those houses. I know it has a district heating system and that is going to add €20,000 per unit or something but I have a problem with the idea that just the hard costs and compliance come to €420,000. I agree with Deputy McAuliffe that there is a need for the committee to come back and look at this. I am looking at private sector developers doing similar sized projects in my constituency and they have the same development costs and sale prices as what the LDA has signed in Shanganagh. That is no criticism of the LDA or the local authorities but let us not assume that just because that is the price a developer or building contractor gives, that is the actual market value. I have talked to building contractors that are doing medium-sized apartment developments in Dublin city and in my own local authority area and they are coming in with hard costs that are substantially lower than that, even though they are fully compliant, A-rated and all the rest. There is work for the committee to do on what the actual cost is because that needs to be flushed out.

Mr. O'Reilly will roll his eyes at this because I say it every time. It is terribly short-term for local authorities to offload cost rental onto others. St Teresa's Gardens is a good example. One of the great values of cost rental is that when those loans are paid down, it generates a revenue surplus. If the landlord can access that revenue surplus that then assists in the future management of the stock when we are all long gone and retired. One of the reasons Dublin City Council is in such difficulty with housing stock from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s is because it never had an adequate mechanism, through no fault of its own, to finance the ongoing management and maintenance. If the cost rental and social rental are kept under the same landlord, whoever the landlord is, there is a long-term benefit to the financial sustainability of it. I understand there are all sorts of reasons why Dublin City Council made that decision on St Teresa's Gardens but it is giving up a long-term revenue stream and I think that is unfortunate.

The one area we have not really talked about, which is within the scope of today's meeting but not the primary focus, is homelessness. We had a very difficult couple of months at the end of the summer when, on any given night in Dublin, emergency accommodation was full. That is according to a good report from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive. A significant number of single people and families from Dublin are currently in emergency accommodation in Meath, Kildare and elsewhere. Given that we know from the DRHE's report what the immediate problem is, which is a rise in presentations, particularly due to notices to quit, and a dramatic fall-off in exits, is there anything giving the witnesses the impression that things are going to change or improve over the next number of months? Is this going to be the dynamic from now until the end of the year? If all other things stay as they are, are we likely to see continued increased presentations and a continually low level of exits? That is what we are all looking at to see if those homeless numbers continue to increase. What is the witnesses' read of where we are heading over the next couple of months?