Ms Alma Walsh:

To build on that compact growth research, we are reviewing a finalised draft report, which examines the cost of greenfield versus brownfield or infill with respect to development. It is to get to the nub of the question as to the long-term cost to the State, utility providers and infrastructure agencies more generally. There is a breakdown applied and I can source the figure if the Chair will bear with me. However, it indicates there is a substantial differential between the short-term affordability seen for greenfield development versus the longer term cost that accrues to the State over time. It absolutely feeds back into decision-making around where development should be targeted and focused. That all links back, and it is an important cost element that had not previously been to the fore in discussions in the way it should have. This has certainly arisen with our colleagues across government and has brought a sense of perspective to some of it.

The research is at draft stage, but it has been commissioned to support the revision process more generally and it would be the intention that it be published once signed off. It indicates that construction for hard infrastructure, which includes roads, landscaping, water services, public open space, and so on, costs €115,900 more per unit on greenfield lands compared with infill development in an existing built-up area.