Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask about the commitment in the programme for Government regarding the cost of housing rents. There are many people caught in the middle who cannot get on a local authority waiting list because they are over the €25,000 or €26,000 threshold and they cannot get a mortgage. These are low to middle-income workers who are caught in that bind. We know there is a huge housing crisis, that it is difficult to get private rented accommodation, that people have no security of tenure and that rents are sky-high, as demonstrated by the report this week by www.daft.ie.

What I want to highlight for the Tánaiste is the fact that the Nevin Institute has put forward a proposal. There is money with the credit unions, namely, €8 billion in deposits. There is money in pension funds which is earning 0.5% interest. There is European Investment Bank, EIB, money. There is money available. I am not saying that there is a magic wand, but most Members agree with the cost-to-rent scheme contained in the programme for Government. There is significant political support for it. Such a scheme is badly needed. What progress has been made in bringing that scheme into being in order that we might have developments of cost-to-rent apartments and housing built?

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