Mr. John Spain:

I will address some of the policy matters that have been raised. I will begin by setting out what the experience has been as a result of two very important initiatives relating to the planning process and the delivery of housing supply. The review of the apartment guidelines has been instrumental in leading to a switch from a tendency towards peripheral housing estate-type development to a much greater emphasis on increasing the proportion of housing coming forward that is in more central urban areas in apartment-type developments. This switch and the strategic housing process have led to a significant increase in investment and interest in housing development. Many international investment funds are looking carefully at Ireland and putting a lot of money into the Irish housing system. This money is going into planning applications and into delivery. We are seeing a follow-through. They are not spending money to speculate. They are spending money to deliver the product on the ground. We are now moving very much into the delivery phase. I think we will see that coming forward on the ground.

I referred earlier to some examples of cases we have looked at. It is the case that some sites are sold on after planning permission is obtained. That is part of the funding process. In two of the sample cases we have looked at, sites were sold on to fund development. Those schemes are now going on site or are on site. In all types of housing applications, including SHD applications, amended applications come forward as developers seek to respond to changes in market requirements. Again, that helps the delivery process. The combination of those two measures has been highly successful in levering in funds for housing supply and delivery. I believe we will see the benefits of that coming through very strongly over the next year or two.