Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)

The solution needs to come from the SEAI.

On affordable housing, at this committee and at the public accounts committee, the Department and the industry have both stated that within the M50 ring there will, at least in the foreseeable future, never be a home built to sell for profit. Effectively, most of the units to be built in that area will be subsidised in one form or another, whether it is through viability measures or as public housing. The lack of availability of homes to purchase comes as a direct result of that. Outside the M50 ring there are more opportunities for land for private developers to build what previously might have been called starter homes. The Department regulations in the city demand apartments as the only form of construction. Despite what the public thinks, that inevitably increases the cost of construction of those units. As a result, a subsidy is needed.

The issue is that a number of the sites in my constituency which the council has identified for affordable purchase now need a subsidy of more than the €100,000 or €125,000 than was previously earmarked. The matter is bouncing back and forth between the council and the Department. The departmental officials are saying they cannot deliver affordability. What they really mean is that they need more than €125,000 to make them affordable to purchase. Some other properties in the area, maybe former local authority homes, are on sale for €300,000 or €310,000. There is no comparison between a brand-new built home that is A-rated at the top of the range and an old local authority home that might have been empty for a number of years and that needs substantial work done.

The Department needs to examine the funding of these affordable housing sites. In using the words "it is hard to get viability on it", the Minister is actually saying that we are not willing to provide a subsidy. Is a moral question about the upper limit of a subsidy to be provided to one couple or one person buying a home. I have no problem with that debate, but if we insist on apartments in the city, they will cost more than an average person can afford to pay and the State will always have to make up the difference if we want to make it affordable for people to purchase. Caroline Timmons in the Department is working very hard, but this area of affordable purchase will reach a point where we will not be able to deliver affordable housing because the subsidy will not be enough.