Mr. John Conlan:

We raised it not just with the Department but with the senior officials' group overseeing this project in relation to the delivery of it. We pointed out back in June 2022 that the pilot proof-of-concept phase of the modular home programme could only be progressed if sufficient suitable sites were immediately available to the OPW. In the absence of suitable sites the programme was not viable. As the project developed we kept the Department of integration and the senior officials' group informed of the escalating cost of this project over time. It dynamically changed as we were inspecting sites and realising how much these sites for going to cost for the various reasons I have outlined already such as excavation costs, site costs, etc.