Dr. Donal McManus:

The Cathaoirleach mentioned the Austrian model as being first among equals. The difference in Ireland is that we define cost rental as a tenure whereas in the European Union, cost rental is a rent calculation for social and affordable housing. That is where it differs. There is great learning from those countries but the fact is that most social and affordable housing in the European Union is cost rental per se, not a separate tenure. We are morphing into that era of social and affordable housing being cost rental. That will make us sustainable over the long term, for both social and affordable. We have work to do to define in an Irish way cost rental as a tenure, not just as a rent calculation. The Housing Commission almost said we are moving towards cost rental in the long term as a form of rent calculation to make it more equal. That is the work that we need to do too. The Cathaoirleach is right that there is sometimes confusion about how the rent is calculated as cost rental and if there is tenure. There is work to be done in the future on that.