Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This issue has a wider relevance than just first-time buyers. Last year, only 1,000 of the 5,000 or so real social homes that were delivered were directly delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies, and more than half of them were turnkey properties. I do not object to turnkeys. They deliver social homes but the price paid is far higher if they are acquired when all-in development costs are rising. Some of the figures in the SCSI report are startling. All-in development costs for a standard two-bedroom apartment in Dublin city range from €410,000 to €521,000.

In fact, at the very top end one is looking at €618,000. The biggest areas of cost growth are finance, land and other aspects of the soft costs, so that there has been some increase in construction costs. Could the Minister outline specifically what the Government is doing, both his Department and his colleagues, to tackle the dramatic increase in land costs and finance costs because they are driving the rising gap between viability and affordability in the private sector, especially in the city?

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