Dr. Donal McManus:

At present, it is not in the process. It used to turn up in the statistics. Every year, every quarter, the Department used to produce statistics on how many low-cost sites were provided to individuals and approved housing bodies, AHBs. They do not turn up any more so the scheme seems to be inactive at this stage. We are trying to get something similar to it activated. First, we want to have the sites that were mapped by the Housing Agency moved on in terms of their status. Are they eligible for housing? What is the timescale? Is there any debt on the site? It is basically moving on from inventory to detail about what is available for AHBs to develop. The Housing Agency and the local authorities will have to negotiate with that in terms of what is the next phase for AHBs.

Obviously, sites are key. We have got a lot of sites in recent years from the development sector, whether they were from receivers or private developers. That was a supply chain, but it has run out and some of the things have been sold on to third party investors. That niche which we had for the past four years was very much concerned with working with private developers and the private sector. As Deputy Ryan said, what is being brought to the table? Some of those schemes were low cost schemes between NAMA and private developers. However, the land issue is a key factor. To move to supply, the sector's ambitions for the larger bodies is approximately 5,000 homes over the next two to three years. They think they have the capacity to provide even more and to manage but they would like to know or get visibility on sites ahead so they can plan with the boards to find out what finances they need for, say, the next five to seven years.