The demand for housing in the State is much greater than the number of homes being built, an Oireachtas committee has been told.
Hubert Fitzpatrick, director general designate of the Construction Industry Federation, said the country is entering a “much more difficult phase of housing provision”.
The Oireachtas Housing Committee is examining issues around infrastructure provision and residential developments, amid the Stat'es housing crisis.
Mr Fitzpatrick told committee members there had been an increase in housing output from fewer than 10,000 units in 2016 to nearly 30,000 in 2022.
He said: “There are many different reports into how many houses are needed for 2023, from 33,500 in Housing For All, and up to 62,000 in a much-publicised Housing Commission report.
“Whatever the case, the number of houses we need to supply is much greater than we are currently building.”
Mr Fitzpatrick added: “Over the last number of years this housing output took place on lands that were zoned in previous development plans and in many instances had been serviced with critical infrastructure such as water, wastewater, electricity, roads, public transport, etc.
“In our experience, in more recent times a significant amount of the serviced and zoned lands for residential development have now been activated or built on, and we are now entering a much more difficult phase of housing provision.
“This has not been helped by a very tight zoning regulatory process introduced as part of the National Planning Framework.
“In many locations there is a lack of forward planning for infrastructure or a delayed provision that is essential to the delivery of new homes.”
Conor O’Connell from the Construction Industry Federation told the committee that there had to be a discussion about who paid for public infrastructure.
He said: “In Ireland we do not have, for example, water charges or a significant local property tax whereby the whole of society pays for public infrastructure that benefits everyone.
“All too often a significant if not the total costs of providing public infrastructure rests with first-time buyers and those purchasing new homes.
“Our water connection charges and upgrades to water services networks, wastewater and electricity infrastructure is borne by those that least afford it, new-home buyers.
“It is not equitable that first-time buyers may have to shoulder a considerable amount of the cost of public infrastructure.”
Niall Gleeson, chief executive of Uisce Eireann, previously Irish Water, said his organisation faced “significant external challenges” to deliver its investment plan.
He said: “These challenges include high inflation in the Irish and global economy, along with supply chain issues stemming from Covid-19, Brexit, the war in Ukraine and the uncertainty associated with acquiring the required statutory consents to deliver our investment plan.”
He said delivery of water and wastewater infrastructure depended on the effective operation of the planning system.
He added: “While we acknowledge some areas that do work well, particularly at local authority level, securing final consent for our infrastructure projects is a complicated and expensive process with a high degree of uncertainty on timelines and related costs.
“While we fully respect and encourage public participation and a necessary level of governance on public infrastructure projects, appropriate changes to the planning code, and overlapping consent processes, will enable national objectives to be achieved in a timelier manner.”
