Professor Michael McMahon:

Just to point out, particularly when any state invests in physical assets, those often come with maintenance costs that become part of core spending and so it would be a balancing act. As Mr. Barnes is saying, with details we could work out exactly where the costs would be and what the benefits would be. The Deputy is right that building modern, very energy-efficient housing also has knock-on benefits for whoever is living in those houses and the energy costs they face. Those costs are obviously very salient now but longer term, we know a climate adjustment must be done. That is the type of thing somebody should be thinking about but there is not a proposal in front of us for a spec of housing and a cost in ongoing maintenance, which is what we need to be able to cost these things and think about them.