John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I confirm I am in Leinster House. I, too, thank witnesses for attending this morning to give evidence on this very important legislation. This affordable housing Bill will provide local authorities, the LDA, approved housing bodies and the private sector with a set of tools they have not had before to try to increase supply of units and bridge that affordability gap for many individuals and households in the State. I know there has been much public commentary regarding one element of the Bill. I am glad we are talking about the other two elements of the Bill this morning. It is quite useful.

I will focus first on the cost rental scheme. The way I see it, the approved housing bodies have been tasked, initially, with proving the concept of cost rental in the Irish context, and the 440 units have been mentioned. I do not want anyone to take this as a criticism, but I believe that to expand this scheme and drive the delivery of the units, we will have to expand the scheme beyond the approved housing body sector.

Would Mr. Curran or Mr. Taaffe, who is also on the line, agree that keeping it on-balance-sheet, as it is at present through the CREL, is going to potentially hamper the expansion of the scheme in the future? Do they agree that flexibility is required in the legislation and regulations to allow housing organisations outside the AHBs to take part in this model? In my opinion, there is no point in developing a scheme in which we will not be able to quickly drive the number of units that will be provided. I am certain there are funds and organisations that will be willing to provide long-term leases. The 40-year horizon has been mentioned. There could be long-term lease arrangements agreed with organisations to provide units and at the end of the 40-year period they revert to the State for a nominal free. Have those discussions, beyond the approved housing bodies sector, been ongoing with the local authorities? Can Mr. Curran or Mr. Taaffe expand on that?