Richard O'Donoghue urges fee waivers and an audit of Iskairn
Richard O'Donoghue challenged the minister on rising construction costs, calling for reinstated planning permission fee waivers, reforms to the help to buy scheme, and an audit of Iskairn. He argued that inflation, VAT and alleged maintenance failings are driving up housing costs and undermining value for money.
Richard O'Donoghue asked why planning permission fee waivers cannot be extended to encourage people to build their own houses and reduce reliance on state provision. He set out inflationary cost figures for housing construction, noting a rise from €120 per square foot in 2021 to €200 per square foot today and the resulting impact on VAT revenue collected by the Government.
He criticised the current help to buy scheme cap of €450,000, saying many properties have exceeded that threshold. He highlighted a scenario where a house built for €400,000 can be valued at €550,000 by a valuer because of neighbouring sales, leaving buyers unable to benefit from help to buy despite actual construction costs.
He urged the minister to audit Iskairn, inspecting plant running costs and maintenance records over the last five years. He alleged that some plants have not been maintained - for example failing to replace aerators - which increases electricity costs and forces requests for extra funding, and he offered to accompany the minister on site visits.
Richard O'Donoghue pressed for better value for public investment in housing, noting that comparable projects elsewhere in Europe have been delivered at substantially lower cost. He said questioning delivery and procurement is necessary to stretch housing investment further and speed up housing delivery for constituents.
Planning permission fees and self-build support
Richard O'Donoghue asked why planning permission fee waivers cannot be extended to encourage people to build their own houses and reduce reliance on state provision. He set out inflationary cost figures for housing construction, noting a rise from €120 per square foot in 2021 to €200 per square foot today and the resulting impact on VAT revenue collected by the Government.
Help to Buy cap and valuation concerns
He criticised the current help to buy scheme cap of €450,000, saying many properties have exceeded that threshold. He highlighted a scenario where a house built for €400,000 can be valued at €550,000 by a valuer because of neighbouring sales, leaving buyers unable to benefit from help to buy despite actual construction costs.
Call for an Iskairn audit and plant inspections
He urged the minister to audit Iskairn, inspecting plant running costs and maintenance records over the last five years. He alleged that some plants have not been maintained - for example failing to replace aerators - which increases electricity costs and forces requests for extra funding, and he offered to accompany the minister on site visits.
Value for money and delivery comparisons
Richard O'Donoghue pressed for better value for public investment in housing, noting that comparable projects elsewhere in Europe have been delivered at substantially lower cost. He said questioning delivery and procurement is necessary to stretch housing investment further and speed up housing delivery for constituents.
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Transcript
Minister, I wish you well in your position and I look forward to working with you. I'm in construction all my life Minister and I just want to give you a bit of advice and ask him for your help. The planning permission fee for waiving the fees for planning permission, why can't we extend that to make sure that people are building their own houses, they're not depending on the state, that you're helping towards inflation costs? So why can't we reintroduce that? And the reason why I'm saying it to you, just to show you the inflation costs that we have at the moment for housing. In 2021 it was €120 a square foot. So a 2,000 square foot house was costing you €240,000 plus VAT for the Government, €32,400. That same house today is costing you €200 a square foot which is costing you the same house from 2021, is costing you €400,000 which the Government get €54,000 VAT directly from that. Why are we giving back to something, for people that are building their own houses? That's one. Then we look at the help to buy scheme, it's too low, €450,000 is the cap, but most of the houses have moved past that and the people that were putting on the help to buy scheme has far gone past that. So now if you build a house tomorrow morning and you're building for €300,000 or €400,000, let's just say €400,000 and you pay your builder and you get a valuation on your house, your valuation or the valuer could value your house at €550,000 because somebody next door is after selling their house and they are at €550,000. So it's done on per valuation, again the help to buy scheme does not help those people. And the next one I have for you Minister is infrastructure. When are you going to audit Iskairn? I'm a constructionist all my life and we visit plants to look at. Look at the running costs of the plants that Iskairn have over the last five years and some of the plants that have not been maintained. Look at the electricity costs because they haven't replaced aerators in the system. No maintenance, the electricity is rising and they are coming to you with a cap in hand and saying we have no money because the costs have gone out of control. They are deliberately not maintaining some plants to have them overrun to fool you. I will invite you down to any place you want to go to plants and we will go visit them. And we will look at the plants and we will look over the four or five years they have been running the plants and see where they are not telling you the truth looking for extra money. I want value for money from Iskairn. If they can do it in other European countries and deliver projects for half the price that we can deliver them here, that is a problem. We need to question that to make sure the value of the money that you invest into housing goes further and then we can get delivery which helps you, which helps the people I represent as well. That is what I want from you Minister. So I need your help. Thank you.