Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Some of us have been learning this for many long years and there are those of us who learned it lately. We have all done our bit at the coalface and we did not come late to the table. I want to clearly point out that this is not a new situation for most of us. If it is a new situation for most of us, then over the past five years people in this country have been reading the newspapers, watching television and listening to what certain individuals have had to say during the past seven to eight years. We know what the problems are and have acquired considerable knowledge of them. I strongly suggest that we bring the major lending agencies, of which there are only three or so, which have a direct input into what we are talking about and ask them questions.

The Housing Finance Agency is another organisation that used to have quite an amount of influence on both local authority housing and local authority loans. There was once a time when people could get local authority loans relatively easily provided they had a certain income. We need to hear from that part of the market as well. If we do not do that and just comment on how awful the situation is, we can wring our hands and tear our hair but we will be doing that in six months and two years. The time has come to deal directly with the issues and engage with those at the coalface. Let us hear from them.