Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his response, which indicates that the average lease arrangement will cost €10,000 per year, which works out at €200,000 over the 20-year lease period and that the rent accrued during this period will be offset against the maintenance of the properties. Based on a rent of €100 per week on the differential, this goes into sums of nearly €100,000 over the period of the property lease. The sums involved in the Minister of State's proposal amount to approximately €300,000 per unit on a lease basis over 20 years, after which time the property will be handed back to the developer at an increased market value. The maths do not add up.

Will the Minister of State review the situation? He has confirmed my suspicion that the rents being accrued by the properties will, instead of going to local authorities, be ring-fenced in the leasing arrangements. The market and cost values of the properties are significantly different. The Minister of State would have spent less had he chased their cost value. He might even have got them for below the €200,000 he cited, perhaps for €150,000 or €140,000. Is this a proposal to help people on social housing lists or is it a bail out for developers who cannot get rid of properties? Is the State stepping in to stand over them?

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