Mr. Hubert Fitzpatrick:

Thank you. On behalf of the CIF and its constituent association, the IHBA, I thank the committee for the opportunity to meet with it to address the critical issue of infrastructural provision and residential developments. The CIF is the representative body for the entire construction industry, house builders and contractors, including specialist contractors, and the IHBA is its sectoral association representing its housebuilder members. My colleagues in attendance here today - Michael Kelleher, IHBA chairman, and Conor O'Connell, CIF director of housing and planning services and IHBA director - are well equipped to address the concerns that arise in relation to the provision of utility infrastructure and the impact this has on new residential developments.

A priority for the IHBA is to deliver more homes for more people so the industry can offer people the security of their own home. The past number of years have been particularly difficult for those aspiring to a new home due to the lack of supply and affordability. To deliver more homes means that more zoned land, more infrastructure, more planning permissions and, of course, a viable and affordable product that can be funded are needed. These are the determinants of supply to a growing country with a large demand for new homes of all types and tenures.

The provision of infrastructure on zoned residential lands is a critical component of housing delivery. Over the last number of years, housing output has increased from under 10,000 units per annum in 2016 to nearly 30,000 units in 2022. This was an increase in output of 45% between 2021 and 2022. There are many different reports on how many houses are needed for 2023, from 33,500 in Housing for All up to 62,000 in a much-publicised Housing Commission report. Whatever the case, the number of houses that we need to supply is much greater than what we are currently building.

In recent years, this housing output took place on lands that were zoned in previous development plans and, in many instances, had been serviced with critical infrastructure such as water, wastewater, electricity, roads, public transport, and so on. In our experience, in more recent times a significant amount of the serviced and zoned lands for residential development have now been activated or built on, and we are now entering a much more difficult phase of housing provision. This has not been helped by a very tight zoning regulatory process introduced as part of the national planning framework. In many locations, there is a lack of forward planning for infrastructure or a delayed provision that is essential to the delivery of new homes. The capital budget allocated in the national development plan, NDP, needs to be invested in key projects as soon as possible to ensure that the housing targets aspired to in Housing for All can be met.

I ask my colleague, Conor O'Connell, to address some of the critical issues.