Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a new scheme and a new call and it is important that we recognise that this year we are going to have hundreds of families in State-backed affordable cost-rental units with rents up to 40% and 50% below the market rate. It is something that is most welcome. Equally, just to be clear, when I referred to turnkey units, many of these properties being developed are ground-up turnkeys. There are not being purchased from someone else just to provide cost rental homes. These turnkeys are being developed from the ground-up. There are issues with costs and particularly so in our cities, in Cork and in Dublin. Lancaster Quay will see the provision of our first tenanted cost-rental apartments in the heart of Cork city in quarter 3 of this year. They will be tenanted this year.

I am, however, looking at some changes in this regard and particularly concerning the management fees. The Government is providing generous grants through the affordable housing fund to the local authorities. Therefore, I envisage that DCC will be coming forward with further proposals in the open call to come for cost rental provision. We already have the projects at St. Teresa's Gardens, which is an important one, and at Emmet Road, and we will have more questions on this later. We also have our own projects which I want to see developed by our local authorities and we are going to do that.

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