Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose that we deal with five different, targeted areas and invite relevant expertise and stakeholders from those areas. That would constitute five meetings on public and social housing, private housing, the rental sector, homelessness and issues surrounding mortgage distress respectively. I am not sure if there are any more areas. In those five separate meetings, relevant expertise and information could be called upon. In respect of the private sector, for example, we might have witnesses from the Construction Industry Federation, the planning institute, An Bord Pleanála, local authorities and relevant experts on spatial strategy. In respect of public and social housing we would have witnesses from voluntary housing associations and local authorities.

There is also the issue of the financing of both public and private housing. We might engage with witnesses who have expertise in private financing. As has been mentioned, what has happened in other countries may have relevance. Credit unions are very interested in participating in the provision of funds towards housing. They should be invited in. It is a matter of selecting those witnesses and the areas that suit them.

They could be the bones of five or six meetings. They might require two meetings each. I do not know. That is my proposal.