Mr. Michael Kelleher:

LIHAF worked in certain areas where there was a builder or developer who had land and who was able to bring it forward and bring everyone together. The problem is that there might be fractured ownership, with a number of farmers, for example, who would not be in the business. Unfortunately, getting them all to agree to how the land would be developed and the costs associated with it, so that there could be a sharing of the costs of the infrastructure, can prove very difficult. We had some successes but that is why the LIHAF did not succeed all of the time. There could be one landowner who does not want to participate. He or she could be farming, be happy out and not want to know about it and that can block a development.

If land is zoned in an area, it means that the local authority feels that is where development should take place. If that is the case, then the infrastructure should be put in there because if it is put in, the builders will come and build there. They will build there because they can and because that is what they do. The Housing Infrastructure Services Company, HISCo, which was set up as a byproduct, is working very well. It has done projects in Drogheda and on the north side of Cork City. It is starting to open up land because it is taking the longer-term view, like the local authorities did previously. It is different today. We now have plan-led development. We have structures in place but what we have now is too restrictive. If we do not get beyond that and find ways for all of us to collaborate in order to get the infrastructure into the ground ahead of developers applying for planning permission, then we are going to be at this juncture for the next number of years and will not solve the problem.