Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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188. To ask the Minister for Finance the status of and position regarding the operations of National Asset Residential Property Services, NARPS, including the number of residential properties currently held by the vehicle; the number of same leased to social housing providers; the length of the lease terms; the annual cost of these leases to the State; and the future plans for NARPS including if his Department or NAMA are looking at either selling NARPS or expanding the activities of same to further develop social or affordable housing into the future. [41524/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, National Asset Residential Property Services DAC (NARPS) is a NAMA subsidiary which operates by purchasing suitable residential units directly from NAMA debtors and receivers and leasing them on to Local Authorities or Approved Housing bodies for social housing use.

I am advised by NAMA that NARPS currently owns 1,372 properties, all of which are leased directly to Approved Housing Bodies or Local Authorities. The properties are located across 16 counties in Ireland with 1,335 properties leased to Approved Housing Bodies and the remaining 37 properties leased to Local Authorities. A breakdown of the lessees is included below:

I am advised that all NARPS properties are subject to a standard lease term of 20 years and 9 months. The rent paid under the lease is agreed through consultation between NAMA, the Housing Agency and the local authority before formal approval by Department of Housing and reflects a prescribed discount to market rent. Rent is fixed for the first six years of the lease term.

NARPS lease rental income for each financial year is available in NARPS published annual accounts and is set out below for information:

Lease Rental Income

As regards the future plans for NARPS, the Deputy will note the recommendation regarding NARPS contained in my Section 227 Review of NAMA, published in July 2019. In recognition of the important role of NARPS in terms of social housing provision, I recommended that NAMA retains ownership of NARPS until it is in a position to be transferred to another State entity as part of NAMA’s terminal surplus of €4 billion in due course. Officials are examining these options in the context of NAMA's winddown.