Mr. John O'Connor:

Deputy Barry stated that affordability should underpin the approach to housing, be that in the form of home ownership or rental. I agree. It needs to be across the board, as the cost of rental accommodation and purchasing housing must be reasonable. Getting into too many schemes can be dangerous. Without highlighting what is done in other countries, the focus is often on having rental accommodation that is at a reasonable price, and the market is not even chased.

In terms of household income and affordability, we use a rough guide of one third. For lower income households, though, where someone is earning under €20,000, 15% of personal income is a significant burden. For households earning between €20,000 and €30,000, 25% is a significant burden. Long term, we want the amount to decrease as a percentage of someone's income so that it does not stay at a high level. There is much more I could say on this point, but it is dependent on short-term as well as long-term income.

Regarding the new affordable purchase scheme, I understand that the Department intends to give it full effect in the next number of weeks. The legislation underpinning it was commenced last year in Part 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Regulations still need to be introduced, which I understand will be done shortly. Funding is already going to housing through the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, and an amount of housing provided in private developments should be sold as affordable housing. As such, there is already funding for the delivery of an amount of affordable housing. What needs to get going now is the delivery of affordable housing for purchase on local authority and other sites. Keeping the price down at an affordable level is about using lands at, for example, no cost and investing infrastructural funding. Rather than thinking about the market price, the focus should be on keeping the cost of providing the house as low as possible and making it affordable to households. The scheme is due to commence fully shortly.