Mr. Declan Dunne:

I propose to address the point about urgency and then hand over to my colleague, John Hannigan, who is also the CEO of Circle Voluntary Housing Association and chairs the sub-committee within the alliance that deals with this issue. My colleagues can then join in as necessary.

The urgency is very real and immediate. It is fair to say that when this judgment came down initially, many people, including ourselves, were of the view that we had time and that money was available for that year and for the following year to do what we are doing. Significant work is under way and the funding is coming in for us to do that work. However, we now find ourselves in a situation where that window is closing and many other factors, which I mentioned before, are now kicking in. We are in a changed world and it merits a changed response from both Departments to recognise the need to do something immediately. I am referring to the impact of Brexit, the potential for a deficit in the budget going forward in the worst-case scenario and the demands for other capital projects such as hospitals, overruns and so on.

Those are significant developments since that occurred and the other part of that is that the need for housing is so pressing. People urgently need to access housing and that need increases every day of the week. We put it to both Departments that we understand how we all started from a view where we believed we had time. That time has now gone, circumstances have changed and we are at risk. Delivery of the programme is at risk in the future if we do not address that. That 18 months has not been wasted because from our side, the ICSH and ourselves have done a lot of work. We have commissioned work, we have done investigation and we have got material. The time is right and we are ready. We need formal engagement and we need all the arms of the State to engage actively and to show how the commitment that has been made by both the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy English, to achieve this. The time is right. It is in the interests of people who depend on housing and it is urgent. There is no getting away from it and it must be addressed at this point.

I will hand the technical points over to Mr. Hannigan. He will speak about the number of engagements and regulation.