Mr. Jim Baneham:

On the question of affordability, there is an accepted norm of it being no more than 35% of income. That is what it set out in legislation in terms of the affordable purchase scheme. In our opening statement, the aspiration is that this is one's limit at the point of entry for paying one's mortgage or rent and that, over time, that would a become lower proportion of one's income.

In terms of the theory behind affordability there is a good understanding of what we are trying to achieve. Regarding a rent of €1,200 in Enniskerry, I have discussed this on a number of occasions. There are households in that area who will be very keen to access that. They would have to be just a little bit further above the income limits for social housing. For a couple earning a particular income in the region of, maybe, €55,000 at the point of entry, they could still be paying 35% of income, or slightly less. Could we get it lower on another site? Yes, I would hope that we would be able to get it lower.

On the broader point made by the Deputy that the current system that we are trying to operate is based on specific site characteristics and local market conditions and then trying to achieve what is affordable, that is essentially what we are trying to do. There is not what the Deputy might describe as a broad brush approach towards setting a standard across the country and backfilling the funding behind that.