John Cummins (Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for attending. I acknowledge the work that everyone in the construction sector is doing to ramp up the supply of homes, be they social, affordable, cost rental or private, for families. All stakeholders are committed to meeting the targets contained in Housing For All, as we saw in how quickly the sector was able to rebound after Covid, notwithstanding the challenge of labour shortages in the market.

I will take Senator Moynihan’s questions further. Mr. Benson’s comments on having an economic viability assessment as part of the planning process were interesting, but how would that be squared with the drive for density, given what Mr. James said about apartments compared with houses? If we are saying that the economic analysis would be done at the planning stage, then many developments would be deemed unviable by virtue of the fact that high-rise accommodation and other apartments are costlier than houses. While this might not be a bad thing, it does not square with the drive for density.