Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. O'Rourke is absolutely right. We will not get 60-year finance from the EIB or the Housing Finance Agency, HFA, but what we can do, as has been done with the Enniskerry Road project, is get EIB financing funnelled through the HFA for 40 years. The State can also provide soft loans upfront, which only fall due after the 40 years and can then be extended for another ten or 20 years again. That model is used in other European jurisdictions to deliver genuine affordability. Our risk is in the fact that we will deliver cost rental but it will not be affordable cost rental. That is why soft State loans and HFA and EIB loans recoupable after a certain time are key to this. The project will not succeed on a large scale without them.