This paper provides a description of social and affordable housing provision in Ireland. It provides an overview of the housing sector and the existing and potential sources of housing need. The remaining section of the paper describes the three main channels of provision local authorities, housing associations and private rental. For each of these it outlines the relative cost and scale and the issues that arise within and about these channels. A common distinction made is between social and private rental sectors. Landlords with a nonprofit character, such as local authorities, voluntary agencies, co-operatives and housing associations, are identified with the social rental sector; whereas all other types of landlords are identified with the private rental sector (Hoekstra, 2009). In addition, social housing is sometimes defined as subsidized rental housing regardless of ownership. This is of particular relevance to Germany where a significant feature of its housing model is that housing subsidies have long been available to all types of landlords, and rents are regulated for a period to time as a condition of the subsidy. At the end of the regulated period, landlords are free to set market rents although non-profit landlords may continue to set rents below the market level. Tenants in local authority dwellings pay weekly rents which are based on the household’s ability to pay, a method known as differential rent. If the tenant’s household income changes, they must inform the local authority, so that the rent paid can be adjusted accordingly. Each local authority operates its own differential rent scheme, with different rates, and different minimum and maximum rents payable, 14 although these rents average about 15 per cent of household income.