Ms Jackie Maguire:

To comment on our own case, we have had a couple of instances where people have chosen to downsize, which has helped the situation in relation to the housing of families. We were in a position to be able to rehouse them to either apartment accommodation, which they chose because they wanted to be near the centre of town, or whatever suited them given their particular circumstances. The issue we have as local authorities is gathering information on the level of under-occupancy within houses. We need to do that. Obviously, it has to be the tenant's choice but we would have had some positive experiences in the past 18 months of people coming forward willingly to say they wish to give up their house to live nearer the centre of town or because they might want to be in an apartment block or near various services, depending on their circumstances.