Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has a social housing stock in or around 9%. If we are to move to the cost rental and public housing model, what percentage of the housing market does Dr. O'Connell think the State should control, either through a housing company of Ireland or directly through the State which would have a sustainable balancing factor on the market?

On the model itself, I am not sure how long Austria has the cost rental model, but as soon as the loan and finance costs are paid, I assume that the rent does not come down and that the money is reinvested. Is that reinvested in replacement of stock or in a combination of replacement stock and-or bringing the cost of renting down even further? That is why I am not too sure exactly how long Austria has that system in place. Is that the vision Dr. O'Connell sees because the big cost in all of this is the finance cost? If we start this today, in 20 years an entire cost and expense will have been removed, but yet, I assume that the tenant will not get an 80% reduction in the rent. Something that might happen there is that it is reinvested into replenishing the supply and-or subsidising rent moving forward.