Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The residential construction cost study report to which the Deputy referred, which was a Housing for All action, considered a comparative analysis between a number of European comparator countries, including Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It focused on specific cities: Copenhagen, Berlin, Utrecht and Birmingham. As the Deputy rightly stated, the analysis provided useful information on cost disparities. In Birmingham, for example, the cost is 21% to 29% lower than that of a typical house built in Dublin but in addition, houses of 93 sq. m were common there whereas houses in Dublin are typically larger, at 110 sq. m, in terms of the requirements here. There are other elements relating to costs in other locations being 30% lower. Apartments in those locations were not finished, for example. They were finished with exposed concrete slab and without fitted kitchens, light fittings or fitted wardrobes. There is a significant difference between the finish standards of what was being constructed in other European countries compared with those in Ireland.

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