Mr. Declan Dunne:

The Housing Alliance is made up of six organisations, which are also members of the Irish Council for Social Housing. What brings us together and unifies us is a common commitment to support people in need of housing. The six organisations are actively involved in developing significant numbers of houses at scale. We are here to talk about the fact that up to 18 months ago, we were classified as non-profit institutions serving households. As a result of a recommendation by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, and EUROSTAT, we are now classified as part of the local government sector. That has had an impact on us in terms of our potential to borrow funds and build housing for people who need it urgently but not on the Government's balance sheet. We now find that the debt we incur becomes part of the Government debt.

When this issue first arose 18 months ago, it was not a cause of major concern because the view was that there was adequate funding for at least two years to allow us get on with building houses at scale. The general consensus was that we would look at this to see what we could do to get ourselves back into the position where our debt was off the Government balance sheet. The reality is that matters have changed significantly in that time. As 18 months have passed, we have used up 18 months of that two-year window we had identified. In that time, a good deal of work has been done both by the Irish Council for Social Housing and the Housing Alliance to study the arguments, understand the issues and develop proposals to address this issue. A positive development is that, in the meantime, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, has supported our efforts to address this issue. The Minister of State, Deputy English, has specifically said he would like to see us overturn this classification as being on Government debt.

The most important aspect at this point is where we find ourselves in the country now, both in terms of housing need and homelessness, which are bigger issues than ever, but, importantly, in terms of macroeconomics. We now find ourselves facing into a summer economic statement and pre-budget preparations that envisage two possibilities, one of which is that if Brexit turns out in the worst possible way, we could end up with a deficit of 5%.

At the same time, other issues have arisen that no one could have foreseen in respect of the cost of the provision of hospitals, broadband and many other demands on the Government's capital expenditure programme. There is a particular concern that at this time, that fiscal space will be significantly reduced. The State must examine how it can meet all those competing demands in terms of providing hospitals, healthcare, roads and all the other infrastructure that is required, including housing.

We are now at the point where a certain amount of urgency is required. It falls to us to flag that it is important we are in a position to continue to provide the houses people seek, need and deserve and, by going back to the position we were in previously, can access finance that does not form part of Government debt.

That provides an avenue for significant delivery of housing in Ireland.

The good news is that the work the Irish Council for Social Housing and the Housing Alliance have done allows us to take the positive view that we now have good arguments to address this issue significantly. We are asking all arms of the State to come together to address it. We will bring to the forum the information we have to address the issue clearly and effectively. The time is right, but there is urgency too to assist the people the organisations were set up to help. They were established as social justice organisations and charities. Our wages are paid by our tenants, for whom we work. Our purpose is to provide housing not only for existing tenants but also for others. We are here to flag what is an urgent need and state there is no difference of opinion between us and the Government on the need to do this, but if action is not taken as a matter of urgency, it will not happen. There is a need for engagement by all arms of the State to make sure it will.