Mr. John McCarthy:

I absolutely agree with and fully understand the Chairman's comments on the issue of boarded up local authority houses. In the ordinary course of events, in times past, the local authorities would have funded the refurbishment of these houses from what we call their internal capital receipts, that is, from the sales of property and so on. In the past few years that revenue source has dried up. We have put in place a programme to provide funding for local authorities for refurbishment works to bring houses back into use. Given the pressures we are under, it is absolutely essential that we make efficient use of the available stock. In 2014 I think just over 2,000 units nationally were refurbished under the programme.