Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Interestingly, when the then Government introduced the long-term leasing scheme in 2010 whereby a property owner handed over his or her property, he or she was not a landlord and he or she did not have the costs and the charges, there was an expectation on the part of the Government - I worked in Focus Ireland at the time - that there would be a big uptake for all of those reasons. The level of uptake was tiny. In fairness, when the Minister of State, Deputy English, worked on the enhanced leasing scheme, there was an expectation in 2018 that there would be 2,000 leases a year. Government undershot its targets by 50%. It could only get 1,000 a year. When one looks at the support to live independently scheme and the enhanced leasing scheme, the evidence is that even when a person is offered a ten, 15- or 20-year lease where he or she is a property owner, not a landlord, the willingness of property owners to engage in those schemes is limited. I know there are other issues with them. I am not convinced that would deliver the yield.