John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Ms Timmons. When we think of older persons accommodation we think straightaway of the bungalow but that is not necessarily the most appropriate land use. We have excellent schemes and St. John's College in Waterford is one of those. There is a scheme in Manor Hill, Waterford, that consists of 71 units to be delivered through the repair and lease scheme, which will be predominantly geared to older persons.

To take it a little further, we are predominantly talking about local authorities and people who are in social housing provision. I consistently get queries. A developer is looking at developing a small scheme for the private sector in the context of rightsizing in Waterford at present, and the second it was put out there the phone just rang off the hook. Cork city has a scheme where the council purchases private property and gives a guarantee of lifetime tenure within an older person's scheme but that is more an ad hocthing it has developed. The officials can correct me if I am wrong. Perhaps there needs to be a national overarching policy for that because I would like to see us freeing up more private housing stock for young families to move into, such as three- and four-bedroom homes, when those properties are no longer suitable for older people. It has to come back to that person's decision, of course. Nobody is saying anybody is being forced out. It has to be that person's decision but from the engagement I have had in my locality it is very much something that is in demand. We need to get that mix between the private and the social side of it. There needs to be an overarching policy. Cork city is doing something quite good in that space. The officials might be able to elaborate on it.