Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to be mean but Mr. McCarthy's reply on the small areas is the same as the one he gave last time. I completely understand in certain small areas or electoral divisions there will be too few rental properties to use as a base. In Waterford city, however, there will be electoral divisions that have a high concentration of rental properties where I guess it should be possible to get a representative sample. Is the RTB actively looking at that kind of location because Waterford city is an example of a place where, if one sticks to the local electoral area model, nobody will benefit despite the fact that significant numbers of people need to benefit.

On the affordable rental model, I would be very worried if the conversations about this are about the value extracted from the land because my understanding from the conversation with Dublin City Council was that it had more to do with the private units in the development overall. There is a separate conversation to be had about the rent the affordable renter pays. Nobody seems to be clear whether it is a percentage of market rent or if it will be to cover the cost of pay down of the loans. That is an important distinction. Mr. McCarthy may not have the answer but is he considering both models or are there other models?

I am concerned about value extracted for the land because the Housing Agency is doing a study of the all-in cost of building, presumably to make policy recommendations to the Government on how to reduce the cost of producing private sector units. In advance of that report, if it is the intention of the Department and Dublin City Council management to, for example, offset the cost of the purchase price of the land to reduce the affordability of the private sector units, that is a very big subsidy by the taxpayer towards private for purchase units. I am not necessarily arguing against using public money for that purpose but given that there are so many families in emergency accommodation and there is such a low level of investment in the vacant properties, is that really the best use of that public good now? Would it not be better to wait until the Housing Agency report is ready because it might have better suggestions on how to reduce the cost of the private sector units?

To lay my cards on the table, if the Department comes to the South Dublin County Council area with that particular proposal for The Grange, it will meet huge resistance from me and people in the council. Even if it is a good model for O'Devaney, which I do not think it is, it is definitely not a good model in Fingal where the council would need the purchase price of the land to buy other land. The same is true in Clondalkin.

If I understood Mr. McCarthy correctly, if he is suggesting the use of public lands for private investment student accommodation, how does the Department guarantee affordability? There is on-campus student accommodation in several universities which is close to market rent. I strongly supported the change in the legislation for the Housing Finance Agency loans to universities but it is one thing to have the land and the capital to invest but how can the Department ensure that is affordable, particularly for students from a lower income background?