Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I did not find the replies that came through today to be particularly satisfactory. As for the 18-month process, I find it particularly disappointing that in his contribution, Mr. Owen Keegan alluded to how he has, in the exact phrase used, a huge list of schemes he would like to bring forward. The huge list of schemes about which Mr. Keegan spoke would require an 18-month process and are not even launched yet. I make the point to everybody - but to the Department in particular - that to my mind, there is no reason there cannot be a one and two-stop shop process at a maximum with an initial joint approval of the scheme by a local authority and the Department, if it must be jointly approved, followed by an approval after which one could just run with it.

Fundamentally, having listened to the replies given by both sides today, I have heard the point I made earlier, namely, that regardless of whether it is the Comptroller and Auditor General, the local government auditor or whatever process it might be, there simply does not appear to be a willingness to give someone the authority to do the job without people wishing to be involved and to second-guess. Anecdotally, I am afraid I have heard that material comes into the Department and takes weeks to come back. This is something the Department really must solve because allowing for the level of the crisis we face, it simply is unacceptable to be advocating or outlining that something may take 18 months.

While I should confirm I am not in Deputy Durkan's league, the approved housing bodies are not a solution to the problem. They are a contributory element but never will be at the level of being able to provide a solution. I worry greatly when I hear references to them as contributing in a significant way because it is not even a matter of whether they are provided with finance or whatever. They do not wish to gear up to the level and size that is necessary to tackle this problem. The only bodies capable of tackling it are the local authorities. I have no doubt but that the Minister, in conjunction with the feedback he gets from this committee, will put in place a process but I believe there must be a complete sea change. I revert to the point that the sustainability issue appears to have come around to the heart of this and note that from the initial contribution made by the witnesses to a point later on, they did appear to move on what sustainable development should be. However, it will be necessary to go back to building much larger quantities of houses while acknowledging the need to do it right.

I appreciate the comment made by the manager but when I spoke about a community being built and the need for schools and churches, I was not necessarily asking the local authority to build them immediately. I was talking about the fact that in the past, the local authorities built the houses and then walked away from proper planning and development of the community. Nobody is asking that everything be built by the local authority but it needs to be managed, planned and put in place. I believe the public and private sectors can build modern communities on a scale and size necessary to solve it but the primary driver needs to be the local authority sector and it needs to want to do it through a much faster process than I heard indicated today.