Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Cost rental was new two and a half years ago. We have amended it to make sure it is viable in the schemes we are bringing forward. A lot of the big schemes we are seeing now are cost-rental apartments and multi-unit developments, which are great. A lot of them are what were paused planning permissions.

The LDA, to deal with it first, whose representatives were before the committee recently, has a pipeline of about 14,000 units. The vast majority of its affordable delivery is cost rental and it makes sense for the types of developments it is delivering. In Shanganagh, which many Deputies will know, there is a significant amount of cost rental on the affordable side, and in St. Theresa's Gardens and many others. The LDA has shared with members information on its pipeline.

With regard to where this goes, we had to step in and change the equity amount in cost rental because we were seeing the cost of borrowing increasing. When funding a scheme and trying to ensure the rent is a minimum of 25% below the market, which in all cases it is and in most cases is more than that, and then providing for the ongoing maintenance of it, we have to change cost rental or the cost rental equity loan, CREL, to assist in reducing the cost for the AHB sector and for the LDA. We are using measures like the changes in CREL and measures like STAR that we have brought forward, and these have brought forward many more schemes.

On what we are approving, I had a figure here on cost rental for the Deputy. He was asking about targets and I was looking at it earlier. To date, 2,180 cost-rental homes have been delivered by AHBs, local authorities and the LDA. A small number of them are cost-rental tenants in situ but it is 2,180. Funding has been approved under CREL for 4,800. That will tell the Deputy what the pipeline is for this year and into next.

On Deputy McAuliffe's question, we will be setting revised targets in the coming weeks. Our affordable housing delivery is very strong. Cost rental is very popular with people too, and we have to ramp that up further. We have more local authorities getting involved directly themselves, and I am sure Deputy Ó Broin will be aware of Tallaght in South Dublin where the local authority showed a great degree of flexibility in respect of the land cost. The local authorities can borrow at a rate that obviously is lower than that for the AHBs. The pipeline is very strong in that regard. There is such a demand for it that we really need to increase it substantially, but 2,180 cost-rental homes have been delivered so far.

The Government decided to give the LDA additional capital, and we did so, with the Deputy's support, through the amendment in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 to permit the transfer of that capital to the Land Development Agency, which will underpin its pipeline right the way through to 2027. That certainty is very important for an agency like that so it can enter into contracts. We now have the framework arrangements in place with the development sector too. The outlook for the Land Development Agency is very positive.

We will always have to flexible with cost rental because while the cost of funds and borrowing is reducing marginally, we would like to see that reduced further and that would mean those reductions could be passed on to tenants. Also, other schemes would then come from the cusp of viability into viability, so more could be delivered there.