Dr. Aideen Hayden:

Working backwards, I will deal with HAP, which was also raised by Senator Boyhan. I was asked why people do not take up the HAP scheme when they are eligible for it. They do not take it up because it is in the private rented sector, which is incredibly insecure, and they would only get the security that a tenant in the private rented sector would get. Being realistic, we are all aware there are enormous difficulties in the private rented sector, although we are not here to discuss that today, so I will not go into it. That is the first point.

Second, with regard to rent collection and local authorities, from the local authorities we spoke to, it was certainly our view that they have an enormous sense of responsibly and obligation to their tenants and see themselves very much as the authority of last resort - in other words, there is nowhere to go beyond a person's local authority. They are not in the business of evicting tenants and that is the bottom line. While we do have evidence of very high levels of collection of rents, we also have evidence of very high levels of rent arrears and collecting rent arrears is a difficulty for local authorities. A number of local authorities made the point to us that they are not in a position to go to court, even where rent arrears are quite significant and where the tenant is not interested in co-operating or facilitating the local authority. In some instances, they really are stuck between a rock and a hard place.