Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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256. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the steps he is taking to help reduce financing costs for the construction industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2955/17]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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257. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the steps he is taking to help reduce input costs for the construction industry; the way in which such costs are tracked by his Department; the targets his Department is working to in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2957/17]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 256 and 257 together.

Under Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the Government is committed to a broad range of measures to tackle, among other things, some of the costs associated with the provision of housing in the interests of reducing construction overheads. This includes undertaking a detailed analysis, in conjunction with the construction sector, to benchmark housing delivery input costs in Ireland, in order to facilitate an increased level of housing output into the future. A working group, chaired by my Department, with a broad range of industry representatives has been established. The first meeting took place in December and there is another meeting scheduled to take place this week. While it is intended that the working group will concentrate on the domestic market, the Housing Agency is currently advancing an independent review and analysis of delivery costs and international comparisons. Both studies are expected to be complete in the first half of 2017.

My Department has also input into work led by the Department of Finance in relation to construction costs, which was undertaken under the Construction 2020 Strategy. In addition, costs are examined in the context of proposed legislative changes, particularly in relation to Building Regulations, and a cost benefit analysis and regulatory impact analysis is carried out on any proposed amendments.

Further measures taken by my Department to bring down the cost of providing housing and reduce the amount of finance required include the €200 million Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF), which will provide much-needed enabling infrastructure on key sites to open up lands for development from early 2017 onwards.

In addition, the NTMA, through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), is developing proposals to offer competitive financing on a commercial basis, and in line with ISIF’s statutory mandate, to meet other infrastructure requirements on large development sites.