Still, the foldable prefabricated houses take just a month to build, and last for years.

If they decide not to renew the loan the prefabricated houses, which last for up to 100 years, can be moved.

Prefabricated houses in Germany and Japan have a 30-year guarantee, while new builds in New Zealand have a one-year guarantee, she says.

Proposals to construct 200 prefabricated houses for homeless people on vacant sites around Dublin city have been shelved by Dublin City Council.

Plans were announced last June for "rapid build" prefabricated houses on vacant council land for families living in emergency accommodation.

In early July, the Indian government handed over 250 prefabricated houses in several villages in northern Rakhine to Hindu families displaced by the violence.

Work is already under way on 22 prefabricated houses in Ballymun at a cost of €4.2 million.

In the end, most of these prefabricated houses -and indeed most houses in Japan -have a lifespan of only about 30 years.

In a welcome, if admittedly very limited, response to the housing crisis, it is planning to place 500 prefabricated houses on sites across the city.

The prefabricated houses don't require bricklayers to put them up, are faster to build and have brick cladding so they look like traditional bricks-and-mortar homes.

Mr Kelly said he intended to have a "certain amount" of modular units ( prefabricated houses) in place for people looking for homes before Christmas.

The foreign ministry issued a donation request list to foreign countries that includes 1,000 prefabricated houses and helicopters that can lift trucks and excavators.