Mr. Paul Hogan:

This is something that has arisen again and again. When we drafted the original NPF in 2018, we had to rely on international studies from Canada and Australia. This time around, there is more research locally. The Housing Commission looked at this issue and compared parts of Lucan with Leixlip in terms of theoretical expansion, and one way of doing it versus another. We did something similar. We commissioned research to back up the compact growth approach in the NPF, which, as can be seen from the range of submissions, has been criticised in some quarters. I will ask Ms Mulhern or Ms Walsh to summarise what we did. The cost differential between compact and non-compact growth is significant, and that is a preliminary bricks-and-mortar and service-provision view. It does not take into account things like carbon emissions.