Professor Eoin O'Sullivan:

I suspect the issue relates to the new hybrid situations which have arisen. As I said, however, the objective of the 2003 housing policy statement was to ensure there was confidence in the figures. Regrettably, there was no consultation and this was not discussed. At the time, a number of categories were excluded and some of the NGOs were criticised by others because, for example, non-section 10 funders were excluded. Because there was a consensus, however, everyone could stand over the monthly figures and say that while they were not definitive, they were confident they provided an indication of the trends. If that number was going up, it was really going up and if it was going down, it was really going down. The current confusion is probably not helpful and we have spent an hour here debating an issue we should not have to discuss.