Mr. Gerard Brady:

Multi-annual funding cuts across pretty much every category of infrastructure. One that has been brought up with us many times relates to road infrastructure, where road projects had got to a certain point but TII did not have the funding by the end of the year to move the project forward. It had to wait until it got to the next budget cycle and the next year to move things on to the next stage. Projects are getting held up for periods of months, just for consenting new funding through the system. That should not be happening. The parts of State bodies that are delivering these projects should be getting the funding over a multiyear cycle so that they can move on multiple stages and not get caught within the year.

On the housing side, pretty much every large developer we talked to - it is a little different for smaller developers - said there is capacity to build more. In particular, there is capacity to build more urban densified housing. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to have a certain percentage of housing, whether that is social, affordable or cost rental, delivered by the State using modern methods of construction, which is something we have sought for a number of years. The reason that would be really helpful is that at the moment, only very large companies can invest in modern methods because they know they have their own demand and their own supply chain. If somebody is a smaller builder or even a medium-sized builder, it is harder to invest in those modern methods because that individual is not 100% sure if the pipeline will be there in a number of years to justify that investment. The State taking on the role of leading the development of that space by effectively guaranteeing a pipeline for those smaller and medium-sized builders would be a huge advantage in their ability to say they can now invest with a certain amount of certainty and take on those modern methods. It would be enormously efficient for construction. To go back to Deputy Clendennen's question about materials, it could also reduce the cost and waste of materials. There is a major advantage in speed of construction and less labour is needed to put into it, but it also means a lot less materials are needed and it brings down cost. Being able to do that would make us more efficient and able to deliver more with less. We will need to deliver more with less and invest in productivity. That is one way to create that market.