Dr. Lorcan Sirr:

I am not sure that the Department would have me, to be honest. The Senator's point about anti-social behaviour was well made. There is an economic cost. Research often gets derided in the built environment, but research can quantify the cost of vacant housing and anti-social behaviour. We can put a number on it.

The repair and lease scheme is a wonderful idea and should be rolled out further.

The Senator made a good point about local authorities and mortgages. A cohort of households earn €35,000 to €50,000 per year, which is too much to qualify for State help and too little to buy their own homes. They will fall into a wide gap.