Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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There is a huge overuse of it. As I said, I do not have any fix with regard to not bringing consultants or experts. It is appropriate at times. One has to do it, and I understand the logic of doing it. It is quite all right to do that. However, for minor projects, we are adding on. There is the issue of housing. I want to raise this directly with Mr. Moloney. We have a housing crisis in this country, and we insist on every scheme starting with a blank canvas. As Mr. Graham Doyle tells us each time he is in, which is fair enough, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is using certain standards with regard to internal design etc. If one wants to produce a lot of something, one has to mass-produce it. Again, I am not arguing that we should produce stuff that is not up to standard or that is in the style of the 1930s, 1950s or even the 1970s. Mr. Moloney is the head of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. He will sign a big cheque this year for housing, and some of us would argue for an even bigger one. That is fine. However, why can we not have a situation where we try to get value out of what we are spending on homes that are built?

I estimate that we need about 12 different types of units because we have disabled people. We need four-bedroom houses, one-bedroom homes, apartments, high-density and lower-density, depending on where one is building.

I would contend that the only blank canvas there should be is the actual layout and design of the site, the entrance road and so on. Why are we starting with a blank canvas on every scheme? A lot of schools have been built in the recent past. Every one of them looks the same. Yet there are architects, consultants and design teams brought in which, in the case of the building programme between six and eight years ago did not seem to notice that the contractors were not putting in wall ties, even though they were supposedly in charge of monitoring what was happening on-site. Why are we not insisting on a clerk of works? I am saying that school buildings generally look the same. I am not saying every one of them is exactly the same. There are a few different types. Some of them have to be single storey, while some can be two storey. Why is there this insistence on going to a blank canvas every time?

I want a direct response on housing. As the Accounting Officer in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, will Mr. Moloney tell me why we go to a blank canvas every time we want to design a housing development? What can we not have between eight and 12 designs and sizes, in order that we can do what we used to do and what they do in other countries? The private sector does this, by the way. The house I live in was built by a private developer. I have seen a lot of places around the country where the houses look the same as mine. I do not care. I have a comfortable home - a three-bedroom house. I am happy. Why can the State not do that?