Mr. Mike Allen:

The crucial aspect was the co-operation with the Department of Social Protection. We are writing up a report on the campaign, and I think the Department is very interested in the outcome of it. Our argument is that this shows this sort of targeted writing in this way is effective. The Department's fear previously was always that if people got letters from the Department of Social Protection, they would frighten them and those people would put them in the bin. However, the model of the Department sending out the letter, which avoids any information protection issues, but with the letter having a letterhead reading "Focus Ireland", seemed to be able to get through to people one would otherwise not have got through to.

Bord Gáis Energy, which is one of our sponsors, provided the funding for it.

Senator Humphrey's also spoke about Airbnb. I agree it is a real threat. While hotels, B&Bs and others who provide accommodation are necessarily regulated, this sector is being allowed to develop unregulated, which, I imagine, is causing problems. The Minister has said that he is going to act on the matter. The sooner he does so, the better because with each private rented accommodation we lose, the problem increases. The Senator also spoke about evictions. We see eviction as a significant cause of homelessness. We do not have hard evidence for this but the sense from our front-line services is that, primarily, landlords are selling up because of pressure from their lenders, be they vulture funds or banks. In other words, some evictions occur because of house repossession by banks and others-----