Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Acquisition is going to be more expensive upfront but then it is going to be a different carrying cost. A lease is over a 25 year period so it carries in a different way. Notwithstanding that, the capital cost of taking on the acquisition also has ongoing liabilities because it is an asset that depreciates over time. We have had to move money to be able to take advantage of these acquisitions. The leasing programme at the moment is underperforming. We have to consider if we need to make further reforms to the programme to see if it can deliver better for us. We are in the process at the moment, as we finish 2018, of setting targets for each local authority for 2019, as we did for 2018. What we see at the end of the year will then inform how we set those targets in the areas of building, acquisition and leasing. What I will not do is step back from our ambition for building.