Mr. John McCarthy:

The local authority mortgage-to-rent scheme was, indeed, piloted in Westmeath and Dublin city a number of years ago and then extended to all other local authorities. A bit like the mortgage-to-rent scheme for private mortgage holders, the scheme was targeted at people who are clearly in an unsustainable mortgage situation. In effect, what happens with the local authority mortgage-to- rent one is that the local authority takes ownership of the house and the household becomes a social housing tenant of the local authority. In the private mortgage-to-rent scheme, an approved housing body takes ownership of the house and the household remains on in the house and becomes a tenant of the approved housing body.