Ms Kathryn Meghen:

Looking at the numbers mentioned by the Senator - the 10,000 people who are homeless - that is one of the most shocking indictments of the country. Unfortunately, as an extra 1 million people will live on the island of Ireland in the next 40 to 50 years, we need to take a really strong long-term view. The Senator referred to her niece living on the outskirts of Ballincollig. We are not talking about moving somebody from the outskirts of Ballincollig to a different location. We are talking about the need to strengthen and increase density within Ballincollig and the infrastructure there. This is why we believe the LDA is so important. We need a State agency that will identify some of our suburban sites, look at purchasing them - possibly through CPO or through looking at existing social housing - and will really strengthen density. We carried out a study on the ageing population about two years ago. About 950,000 homes on the island of Ireland are under-occupied. We must find a way of unlocking those. That is where we believe the LDA could come in through purchasing large tracts of land and existing suburban housing through CPO or whatever model is used and looking at strengthening it. Does Mr. O'Mahony want to talk about the study we are conducting in Limerick?