Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives of the Department for their written statement and the work they have done to date on the Bill. It is fantastic to see these provisions for affordable housing. I am especially happy that the Bill will, for the first time, enshrine the definition of cost rental into Irish law, which is most welcome from the perspective of the Green Party. I do have some clarifying questions relating to cost rental and the shared equity scheme. Some of them have probably been covered to some extent but I will go at them again.

With regard to the definition of cost rental tenancy and the term "equity returns" which is included in the Bill, do the witnesses agree that this makes or may make cost rental indistinguishable from the private rental sector? If so, can the terminology be amended to mirror the limited profit regulation under the Vienna model, if that is what the European model is, such that we are not pushing it and making it a private sector kind of model but, rather, more going down the line of the Vienna model?

My next question may have been answered already. Once the up-front cost of cost rental delivery has been repaid, what will happen to the rental price? How will that money then be used?

Can the witnesses provide any examples of the new shared equity scheme? How do they think it will work on private and local authority lands, respectively? In what way will it improve housing supply? Has the Department worked out models of how this will play out?

Will the cost rental equity loans and other supports for cost rental only be made available to public bodies, AHBs and non-profit housing providers?