Mr. Sean O'Connor:

I represent Tuath Housing. We have 10,139 homes. We have had an enormous growth spurt in the past few years. In the past three years, we have added more than 1,000 homes each year.

The Senator touched on a few other points. I referred to the potential of ethical pension funding. There are established leasing models elsewhere, especially if we look to our nearest neighbour, the UK. We did considerable work on this a few years ago, generated some interest, went on a fundraising expedition and, surprisingly, came across some large funders, including a $1 trillion American fund - if the Senator can get his head around that - that was interested. It wished to invest €300 million through Tuath Housing on the basis it would be social housing in perpetuity. The key difference between this model and 25-year leasing model is that at the end of the latter, the property has to be returned. For the pension fund manager, that was a deal breaker. He required certainty the asset would transfer to Tuath Housing, the local authority or a new entity, such as a tenant management organisation, for €1.