Mr. John McCarthy:

Picking up on Deputy O'Donnell's comment at the end on keeping people off the list, there is a very valid point - it was in a discussion with Deputy Deasy earlier - around the connection between social housing, and what we need to deliver there, and the wider housing market because the more that we have a properly functioning housing market with supply at a level that can meet demand, the more we have price and rent issues dealt with in the market generally. Certainly, it eases the pressure on the public housing system.

In terms of providing for the future, the social housing strategy is really the vehicle which we are working through, particularly in terms of the potential funding arrangements that can be devised to support the maximum level of delivery. I might ask Mr. Michael Layde to say a few words on that.

The housing assistance payment scheme that Deputy O'Donnell has spoken about would be a very important part. He identified some of the issues associated with rent supplement. What the housing assistance payment does is bring the tenants in under a local authority-led regime with all of the benefits that that brings, and it also addresses issues around the rent being payable directly from the local authority to the landlord, avoiding some of the arrears-type issues which have given rise to some of the problems in terms of people finding themselves moving out.