Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for attending and for their efforts in their various Departments. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in 2017 spent about €1.4 billion, I believe, of which €230 million-odd on rents. Could the witnesses indicate to the committee how much was recouped in terms of the receipt of tenants' rental payments to the State? I ask the witnesses to give me a figure for that later. Could they also provide the committee with a list of active approved housing bodies as opposed to a full list of approved housing bodies? I think that would be quite useful for the committee's consideration. Furthermore, how many approved housing bodies have been removed in the past five years, for example? Perhaps ten years would be a good indication as to how many have withdrawn from the market. I would be very interested to see a figure for the total sum of money provided to approved housing bodies as a separate figure to that which has been spent by the Department on the provision of housing. If the witnesses can answer these questions straight up, I ask them to do so, but if they want to take some time to gather them together, that is fine. I will move on.

What percentage of the LIHAF funding has been drawn down? The witnesses might be able to provide us with a note on this and perhaps break down the figure per application. Is there a specific policy within the Department which precludes the development of large-scale social housing or is it just the case generally that the Department believes it should not engage in such developments because it would like to try to learn from the past? Would Mr. McCarthy like to try to tackle those questions?