asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state the cost per cubic foot, excluding development charges, of the recently sanctioned Careys Road housing scheme, and the similar cost in respect of the previous tenders submitted in respect of the same scheme.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Careys Road (Limerick) Housing Scheme.
56.
Information is not available in the form requested by the Deputy. Tenders for local authority housing schemes are normally analysed on the basis of the cost per square foot of building. The average cost per square foot represented by the tender approved on 20th November, 1959, for the housing scheme at Careys Road, Limerick, was 35/9 excluding development charges. The corresponding figures in the case of the tenders for the same scheme which Limerick Corporation had proposed to accept in July and November, 1958, were 37/1 and 37/respectively.
Would the Minister agree that the difference is far smaller than indicated in the reply he gave to a Question in the Dáil last week?
The differences tally as follows, and I am giving the dates of the tenders: In July 1958 the amount of the tender was £132,541 which is estimated to be 37/1 per square foot floor space. The tender submitted in November, 1959, for the same scheme, with the same size of house, had been reduced to £129,470, or 37/- per square foot, and the tender eventually received, accepted, and sanctioned by my Department in November, 1959, for the revised type of house was £120,789, or 35/9 per square foot.
Would the Minister state what would be the reduction in rent as the result of the saving in the cost of these houses? What would be the percentage reduction in the economic rent? Last week the Minister told me in reply to a Question that the saving per house would be £178. As a result of that saving, what would be the reduction in the economic rent?
The approximate average reduction in economic rent, based on these relevant figures, would be ten per cent.