Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cost rental needs to be affordable based on the tenants' income. Comparing entry-level rent with market rent is not the right metric. That is why we use a metric such as the ESRI's 30% of net disposable income. The problem is that the rent for the homes on Enniskerry Road will be €1,200 per month, meaning a household will need a net disposable income of €4,000, which is considerably above the income of many households required for this. In real terms - St. Michael's estate in Inchicore is a good example of this - we need entry-level rents of between €700 and €900 a month to meet the need of those whose household income is between €40,000 and €70,000.

That is what is done in other cities. They construct the finances in a different way than what is proposed for Enniskerry Road. I urge the Minister to re-examine this. Otherwise a large group of households that today cannot gain access to social housing will not be able to afford the rents, either on Enniskerry Road or in Saint Michael's Estate, if it follows what is happening in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. That would be a mistake given the importance of the two initial cost rental projects.

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