Dr. Aideen Hayden:

I cannot talk specifically about the methods that local authorities engage in with regard to letter writing and so forth but, as I said, it was certainly our view that local authorities take their role very seriously as housing authorities, and they certainly feel a significant duty to their tenants.

With regard to the tenant purchase scheme, yes, there is a very significant difference between the current incremental tenant purchase scheme and the previous, historical tenant purchase scheme that has been in situsince the 1960s or 1970s.

The Senator mentioned the approved housing bodies and, again, we are reflecting the views that were given to us. There was a diverse set of views on the whole issue of tenant purchase. Some interviewees were very much of the opinion there was no difficulty whatsoever in selling dwellings as long as they could be replaced. The difficulty was with the level of discount, not the principle of tenant purchase. Many very positive things were said about tenant purchase and the impact tenant purchase has had historically in giving people a stake in their community and so forth. However, the point was also made that, in the current environment, where most local authority estates are not as large as they were in the past and are small-scale estates, it is not possible to re-state those properties in the market either through Part V or any of the other methods. Given the level of the crisis we are currently in, the overwhelming position of the people we interviewed was for a suspension of the scheme in the current environment.