Mr. John McCarthy:

Very substantial work has been done in respect of the mortgages piece as much for the credit register the Central Bank requires to be put in place. The Housing Agency has been involved along with the Local Government Management Agency to support local authorities in pulling that full picture together. They are at the point of data exchange with the Central Bank with regard to that. The Local Government Audit Service is working on a follow up so it is carrying out a comprehensive exercise to look at all of the recommendations and see what has been delivered. I hope to get that report by the end of the year or very early next year at the latest. There are two things here. We are clear that there is no statutory regulation beyond section 6 of the 1992 Act. However, I do not think it is accurate to say there is no regulation because the voluntary regulation system does have teeth and produces very comprehensive analysis and reports.

If a body was not in compliance with the regulatory regime it would not get funding from us. The important point from a regulatory perspective is the regulatory step we took in 2016 to bring the approved housing body sector within the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board. Tenants have added protections from that. The bodies are subjected to standards and-----