Mr. Ed Farrell:

I am more in agreement there. There was reference to the league in October. We have been engaging with various arms, including the Department, the Irish Council for Social Housing, ICSH, and the AHBs to see where is this fund. We were engaging with the Central Bank originally but it has changed the investment rules, as Mr. Johnson said, since earlier in the year and not the lending rules. Rebuilding Ireland clearly laid out that money was going to be made available and support would be provided to an Irish Council for Social Housing special purpose vehicle. We have been trying to ensure that vehicle is created and assuming that it was going to be created. This goes back to July 2016.

It was stated then that it would be compliant for credit unions. It was stated it would be made certain that the rules in place for the credit unions since earlier this year would be taken on board and it would be a Central Bank regulated vehicle. It has to be that way to provide an extra layer of safety for the credit union money going in, which is different from private money going in to it. It has been very difficult to get clean facts on where it is. It looks now like the special purpose vehicle fund is being created but it will not be ready in October or this side of the new year. It looks like it will not be Central Bank approved or authorised at that stage.

The question is whether the credit union movement will have to build a bridge or a buffer of a regulated vehicle to take the money and then invest it into the approved housing body vehicle. The comments about the projects are relevant as well. Land for these approved housing bodies seems to scarcer because there is an upturn. It depends on the different parts of the country but it is particularly the case in the tier 3 approved housing bodies. They are more in the populated areas with a heavy density and the land values are increasing in those areas. We said we were happy enough with October, but this is near the end of October and I am pretty sure it is not going to be October or even this year.