Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I am glad the Deputy is giving me the opportunity to answer this question because there are large elements of the scheme which are actually worked through. There is one issue with regard to what level of subvention versus equity, or is one or the other, will apply? The vast bulk of these houses will be delivered through the Land Development Agency, LDA, so these will be Land Development Agency cost-rental properties. We have good sight of them, of cost-rental units which we could bring forward, where planning permissions are granted and where the LDA will either be in a joint venture or will buy out. The issue has been that viability gap. The viability gap for cost-rental is about reducing the development cost in order that we can reduce the rent that someone is paying. There will be a minimum of 50-year tenures on these units and they will be designated cost-rental schemes.

Any scheme which enters in will do so on an open-book basis, like what we have done with Croí Cónaithe cities. It is open book and will be open to the private sector and across-the-board. We see the major part of this delivery being through the Land Development Agency and we have, as I have said, sight of those schemes already.

We are looking at an equity stake, potentially, or a subvention or both, to the tune of an average of €125,000 per unit. They will be, however, very much focused on apartment development where, whether one likes to accept it or not - I am not saying this specifically about Deputy O'Callaghan himself - we are not seeing the development of apartments in our cities at scale. We need to intervene to ensure that that happens to provide those additional homes we need.