Mr. Ian Talbot:

The Deputy is absolutely right. As we stated in our presentation, there are opportunities going a-begging while this situation continues. There is no overnight solution to this, unfortunately. There is the legacy of what happened post 2008, when building more or less stopped and many of the skills were lost. It took many years for the sector to regather momentum and we now need to get the skills back. We also have concerns relating to the other things that need to be done in the economy, such as our climate change imperatives. That will require the construction of a significant amount of infrastructure. There will be competition for a limited pool of construction capability. In our pre-budget submission, published last September, we referred to issues such as vacancies and living city initiatives. It is about trying to get some of the existing housing stock that is not being used, or not being used properly, back up and running. There is a significant opportunity, particularly in smaller towns and rural areas, to get that stock of housing back into use. It is there but needs to be adapted. It should not require the same planning obligations that come with new builds, for example. In addition, we have seen instances of companies in large cities signing up people who may be living in Donegal to work remotely and paying them a city-based salary to live in a rural town. That means the skill set of those workers is not available in that local town, or is only available at city prices. There are so many things going on that have been caused by the shortage of housing.