Mr. John Hannigan:

I can give the Deputy some concrete information on that. A number of tier 3 groups have been working with the ICSH to examine creating mechanisms by which private finance can be generated. We have gone through several phases, the first phase was examining the feasibility of a special purpose vehicle which was worked through the PwC and the ICSH members. We are now effectively into phase 3 where we have gone out to the market. We have had term sheets back from private banks outside the HFA, and I can say that without a doubt we have had offers of nearly €2 billion to €3 billion worth of funding overall from that. There is a huge appetite to work with the public housing sector in Ireland. That is based on the fact that it is now part of a global market. Investors from other countries, pension schemes and large equity investors, as well as our own pillar banks, see that there is a return that can be made which is reasonable spread over quite a long period of time, has good security behind it and, most importantly, that there is a professional group of people involved in the delivery and management of that public housing.