Mr. Mike Allen:

I agree with Mr. Jordan that this is the Holy Grail for which we are looking.

Over the past several years, all of the approved housing bodies dealt with a large number of investors who said they had money to put into the system. We have spent a huge amount of energy and money, in terms of experts, and came out with nothing. There is a fundamental problem with this proposition for social housing because it is one thing to make the investment but somebody has to pay it back. The nature of social housing is that it needs to be subsidised because the tenants do not have the capacity or income to pay the full cost. The State does not have the capacity to repay the money and it has made it clear that it cannot rise to that challenge.

In regard to the way in which the Chairman characterised the matter, in the sense that existing housing stock in the private rental sector might be taken over in that way, I do not think that is likely to happen. People would be looking at new housing stock. In respect of existing housing stock, we should consider a number of mechanisms, including in particular social rental agencies. The Chairman will be familiar with a pilot project that Focus Ireland, Simon and Threshold have developed in Cork, in which a body acts as an intermediary to take responsibility for letting the property away from the private landlord and ensures that the landlord gets all the rent and that the property is handed back afterwards. That seems to be a more likely option in the Irish context and a small landlord might feel comfortable in such a situation because he or she knows the investment is being looked after and can see it as he or she walks home in the evening.