Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My understanding is that we do have quite a bit more time left because of the grouping so Deputies can come back in but I will be guided by the Acting Chairman. I think it is unfair of Deputy Joan Collins to have raised O'Devaney Gardens because it is a question for later on in this session but I will get straight to the point about it. Most of the affordable homes in O'Devaney Gardens will be priced at less than €310,000. I spoke to Dublin City Council yesterday and was informed that no homes will be sold for more than €400,000 under the schemes relating to the land there. There is more work for Dublin City Council to do on this but I repeat that most of the affordable homes will be priced at less than €310,000.

With regard to Deputy Darragh O'Brien's point about the modelling, in its modelling, the NDFA has looked at people like clerical officers earning €27,000 per year to see what kind of rent they could afford based on 35% maximum of their net income. When we talked about this during a previous engagement, I spoke about €50,000 for an individual and €75,000 for a couple but they are guides. The actual determination is 35% of net income so we are working on the regulations for that aspect with local authorities and they will be in place before the houses come on stream. It is important to note that the regulations for the scheme of priorities have already gone through most local authorities, 21 local authorities have approved and ten are still going through their scheme of priorities, namely, who comes through based on his or her connection to the area, working in the area and children in school. We discussed that during a previous session.

Regarding St. Michael's Estate, the NDFA has completed its financial modelling. A report from Jack Nolan on the wider scoping exercise is due next month. Dublin City Council is procuring its design team, the urban design framework plan for the site has been completed and we have had initial discussions with the European Investment Bank. Progress is being made. It is too slow. This site has huge potential, particularly for cost rental, and we are trying to expedite things and are looking at ways of doing that.

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