John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Further to what Deputy Duffy said, cost rental is a mathematical calculation. As a committee, what we have done is to set the parameters and the formula for that mathematical calculation. We have said that it is going to include full cost recovery, including the full cost of providing and maintaining the unit over the term. We have also stated that we are going to limit the model to a 3% or 4% return so that high-yielding funds cannot come in and make a quick buck. We have also agreed that cost rental will have a minimum of a 25% discount on market rents. In the eight hours of debate that we had in private session, where we agreed more than 40 amendments or recommendations for this report, what we did was set the formula and the model, and that essentially is what determines the rental cost. That is what cost rental is. That is what we are trying to emulate across Europe. It is right that there are other State mechanisms in place should someone need assistance. We have also incorporated into those recommendations the provision that if people experience a reduction in their income over the term, the State will also allow them to maintain their cost rental property and they will receive State support.

Therefore, it is important in the context of this debate to actually state what we agreed in private session. The sooner that those recommendations can be published in respect of what we agreed, then this debate that we are having here will not just be seen in isolation. We have committed, as a committee, to all of the parameters of what the definition of what cost rental is.