Mr. Joe Corr:

I was trying to listen and take notes at the same time, so I may need some clarification from Deputy O'Brien. He spoke about the de-democratisation of the planning process and referred to the centralisation of planning. The Irish Planning Institute does not want to see one planning authority for the whole country.

We refer back to the point that subsidiarity is best at local level and on a permanent basis, bearing in mind that we are in a temporary situation with SHD. Development teams would be multidisciplinary teams. Planners would not be the only people on the teams. The parks department and the transportation department would be involved. Those teams would communicate with developers to find out why housing is not happening and to assess how they can assist in a way that might lead to the removal of site constraints and to the delivery of housing.

I do not have any data with me with regard to the number of houses to be built. I do not want to speculate. I do not want to throw a figure out to the committee by saying I think it might be this or that. There are many unforeseen circumstances that we have to consider, such as those relating to Brexit. We do not know how Brexit might affect house-building. While I accept the figures that have been mentioned, I do not want to comment on any figure.