Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

East Limerick seems to be forgotten with regard to the network. We have a rail line. We just need a stop. The train stops in Charleville. People in County Limerick have to go to Charleville to get the train. They could get it in Kilmallock. Kilmallock is a building town which could help with all types of infrastructure and commercial entities in Kilmallock. The connectivity exists.

Ms Curley referred to the inflation in material prices a while ago. We are talking about the tax coming in on land. Many developers or landowners with zoned land are afraid to build because of the cost incurred with the fluctuation in the price of materials and labour costs and the shortage of labour. They are afraid to build because they have had fixed-price contracts in the last year or two. Most housing contractors work with a 6% ratio. Some have 10%. Some larger contractors work with a 2% ratio in industrial and commercial building. Imagine what inflation in material costs would do to those businesses, which are massive employers. I am a building contractor but I do not do any work for the council. I work on private industrial and commercial buildings.

I understand the market and where developers are coming from. They are asking financial institutions for money to build; and then they are looking at inflation costs and asking if it is viable for them to build. As was mentioned earlier, a number of contractors went belly-up over recent years because of this. Projects that we wanted to see did not happen. Look at places such as Pallaskenry. How many houses have been held up in that project because of a company folding? That is why we are looking at affordable delivery. We could do something about it because most inflation in material costs is driven by fossil fuels, on which we have a 50% tax, which drives the inflation higher. Every contractor and person working in that sector has a 50% tax before they leave home. The Government could look at the tax regime. It is not only an issue for construction. It covers farming and everything else that feeds into it, such as small and medium enterprises. Fossil fuels are certainly used and the taxation system is causing an issue. Most materials that are produced, such as insulation, are based on fossil fuel costs. Transport network costs are based on fossil fuels. If the Government truly wanted to develop housing, whether in the metropolitan or rural areas, it could happen.

Do the witnesses find there are contractors that are not actually coming to the market? The Mungret site is planned for 2030. I understand there was encouragement for planning and infrastructure for it so that it was achievable for contractors to build 20 houses at a time. Do the witnesses find that not as many people come to the market who want to build?