Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will start on some of the issues that have been discussed. One issue which is brought up with me a great deal by older residents in my constituency is exactly as Deputy Ó Broin has stated, which is that some people want to stay in their family home. They have a long and strong emotional connection there, with all of their memories. They completely want that and this needs to be supported. Others fully want to move to something which they feel is more appropriate to their needs. It is a great frustration to them to see all of these build-to-rent apartments being built which they cannot and do not even have an option of buying. There is a problem of reduced standards but there is also the problem of not having the security of moving from homeownership to renting then. This is not something that they would be interested in. The best way to address that would be through ensuring that there was enough affordable purchase apartments. That would be a much better use of resources than the giving of subsidies to developers.

On that issue which was brought up earlier, if one looks at Vienna, one of the reasons that it was able to do a great deal of cost rental and to bring it to completion at a good cost was because there was affordable housing zoning, so that it could provide much more affordable accommodation for people, including for older people. Has affordable zonings or zonings specific for elderly people been considered because there is good practice in other countries? Could this be put in rather than more subsidies for developers looking for higher prices? That would be a much more cost-effective way of delivering. I ask that Ms Timmons might address that point.

On the fair deal scheme and the proposals that are coming forward, what is the timeframe on that and when are these likely to be implemented? Is it that the homeowners will need to register with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, and that full tenancy rights will apply? The point made by Ms Larthwell about signposting and making things easier for people is a key one. Many people will not, if they have not been a landlord before, want to manage this. They could go to a letting agent but if there was a particular pathway also, for example, for some not-for-profit approved housing bodies to perhaps manage that, that might take much of the worry and risk away for some people. Has that been considered and have the proposals which such groups as Community Law & Mediation have worked on, where it has looked at where homes could be managed by not-for-profit bodies, been looked at and considered? What are the thoughts of the Departments on those proposals? These are my main questions.