Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I turn to a particular aspect of the investment in housing. A reason has been given, but we had been expecting €400 million of the proceeds of the sale of Bord Gáis to be placed in an off-balance sheet entity and applied to housing. However, that did not happen. We were told that it did not prove possible to devise a model which would be capable of utilising the €400 million on an off-balance sheet basis. I understand it probably had to be used in that way. It was a very small amount, given the amount realised. It was almost a political sweetener to indicate that some money would be used in that way. Why was it not possible to make that off-balance sheet arrangement, given that we have tier 3 housing associations? There are mechanisms which do not directly involve local authority housing whereby guarantor arrangements could have been made, for example. Why did it not prove possible to do this?