Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)

The voluntary housing sector plays a very positive role and the State wants to work with the sector. To take Britain as an example, that sector plays a strong role there as well. The Deputy will be aware that the Housing Finance Agency, HFA, can also provide finance. It is a good mechanism and provides good interest rates, which we expect will come down in the near future. We want to assist the voluntary housing sector in whatever way we can.

One of the issues I referred to in my response is that we need to ensure these bodies are properly regulated, and we are working towards that. There will be much more confidence from financial institutions in lending to voluntary housing associations if they are in a regulated situation. The CALF system of funding is relatively new and it will certainly grow in the years to come.

See this speech in context