Mr. Seán Moynihan:

I have not come across it, but I will research our information to see if other people have come across it and I might reply in writing.

The Deputy also asked about people renting out their homes after they go into a nursing home. In some ways, we feel there has been a large focus on it but it may not produce that much. There is considerable dispute over how many houses are available. It could be as low as 4,000 units, many of which are not in parts of the country where people want to rent. In addition, on average a person lives for 2.9 years in a nursing home. When someone goes into a nursing home, his or her possessions need to be stored. The house needs to comply with tenancy laws and meet health and safety standards. Authority may need to be handed over to a relative because it is probably not something a person can do within a nursing home. Considerable effort might go into this scheme and produce very little. In addition, we hear stories that many of these houses are full of children, grandchildren and other relatives. It has been suggested that we might get a significant amount of housing but I do not think so because when people unfortunately die, that housing comes back into the stock of available housing anyway.