Mr. Brian O'Gorman:

Dr. McManus has already covered the following matter. It was an important shift that our tenancies were brought under the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board. It means an independent body can adjudicate on cases. Now people do not have to go to court and it is a much better mechanism for everybody involved. A high emphasis is placed on using mediation to resolve disputes and so on.

I do not think this is an us and them situation in terms of local authorities. We enjoy very good relationships with local authorities. Local authorities, in terms of State, would be remiss if they did not employ instruments and other bodies like ourselves who can contribute and help them to fulfil their housing objectives.

All applicants and all of the people that we house come from the housing list. Whatever part of the country we decide to develop we take people from the housing lists. We do not maintain or control the housing lists. They are run independently of us. If somebody is on a housing list, no matter where it is, the objective for them is to get housed, whoever provides that housing. We provide secure housing that is available to a family in perpetuity as long as they need it and it serves their needs.

The housing sectors across Europe have been built on financing and are comprised of a lot more housing associations. The sector differs here because local authorities remain the main providers of social housing. In other parts of Europe the work has involved a lot more housing association activity. Our objective is to become and remain independent of Government but very much accountable to Government. We are accountable both to our boards of directors but also to the local authorities to ensure that everybody that we house come from their waiting lists. We do not wish to escape that monitoring as it ensures that there is good governance and so on.