Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department's work in this area has been led by our independent study of construction costs. I have seen early drafts we have received in the past few months. We hope to have the Housing Agency's report on international cost comparisons next week. I anticipate that will show that we are not wildly out of line with other close countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

When we finalise the apartment guidelines, I hope to be able to publish the full construction cost study report, a summary of which was published a few weeks ago. As the Deputy said, many of the factors and difficulties the building industry is facing at the moment are obvious and they have informed policy decision making. For example, when we have looked at construction costs, we have moved to use more rapid build in social housing as has the private sector.

We have looked at proper planning guidelines, including taking costs out building apartments to make them more viable, such as the provision of car parking for apartment buildings, the number of units per core, dual-aspect ratio, height restrictions and so on. Other factors include: LIHAF funding; development levies and the costs faced in the sector; consistency across local authorities regarding the payments made by them; State payments when it comes to the building of social housing; home building finance Ireland which is the recommendation that will flow regarding finance for builders; the vacant-site levy which has been increased; and now this new land and development regeneration agency. All these interventions that we have made and are making are as a result of the work the Department has done and also work done by the private sector. Given that builders and construction companies have found it challenging, these interventions will help them build apartments and homes at viable prices.

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