Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

Some of the land our debtors have across the portfolio is in good locations where house prices are higher than the norm but that is the market. The majority of our schemes are in this €300,000 bracket. There are exceptions to that as there are anywhere. When we inherited the portfolio, it was built stock. We wanted to get money on the portfolio straightaway. If it could not be sold to the market, we told our debtors and receivers to get people in to rent it. They let as much as they could and the residual amount of 6,500 was offered to the local authorities when they and the housing agency approached us. That was approximately a year after we came into operation. In the first year of operation, we were renting into the private market.

We offered what was available at that point in time.

The Deputy referred to land and claimed that 1,100 ha with 50 units per hectare could deliver 55,000 units but the reality is, as I said, that not all of the land is zoned properly. Local area plans and infrastructure are required. If they were in place, the land could become available for housing. It will take time to put everything in place and even with everybody working at full steam, some of the land may not be available for housing through the planning system until 2019 or 2020.

We have delivered more than 20,000 units since the start of 2014. Between 2010 and the end of 2013, we sold land that could deliver 3,000 units. The reality is that during the period concerned, there was no significant demand for housing or land in the Irish market.