Mr. Pat Ledwidge:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to present to it. We are looking forward to dealing with its questions. My name is Pat Ledwidge. I am the deputy chief executive of Cork City Council and the director of planning and economic development. I am accompanied by my colleague, Valerie O'Sullivan, who is the director of housing and community. Ms O'Sullivan will read our opening statement but I preface it by saying we view housing as an economic, social and environmental asset to the city. Housing is about shelter and building communities. The context of our housing policy is set by Pure Cork, which is our local, economic and community plan and that is how we interact with our stakeholders to build those sustainable communities. I have brought some copies of the plan that I will leave with the secretariat. I will hand over to Ms O'Sullivan now.