Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Murphy for her presentation. In my previous role as a member of a local authority, I and others argued in favour of using the model outlined by Social Justice Ireland as a means of making more finance available to local authorities to build housing. On foot of the EUROSTAT decision on Irish Water, it has been argued that funding local authority and public housing off-balance sheet will be much more difficult in practice than in theory. Has Social Justice Ireland examined the EUROSTAT ruling and is the decision on whether Irish Water is off-balance sheet relevant in the context of public housing? This is an important issue.

On the use of the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, as a vehicle for public housing provision, would the housing stock be owned by the agency or another entity such as an approved housing body? Has Social Justice Ireland examined the issue of ownership? Who would fund the building works? Would they be funded through borrowing from the Housing Finance Agency or the private sector or would NAMA's cash reserves and surplus be used for this purpose? Has Social Justice Ireland teased out the details relating to this issue?