John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The rest of the issues have not been covered. The national differential rent scheme is something that was proposed or promised four or five years ago when we amalgamated our councils to make Waterford City and County Council. There were three different rent schemes and we did not amalgamate them because we were told there was one coming. It did not come so I want to know where that is because it is essential work. I am not hung up on when these issues are scheduled in as we have a limited time.

The next issue is the approved housing bodies. There are more than 280 approved housing bodies in the country, ranging from tier 1 to tier 3 housing bodies. We need to look at the benefits versus the drawbacks of this, the possible case for streamlining them and doing a report on the quantum of them. I am not tied up on witnesses but we need to look at the model. They do fantastic work in the provision of housing but are there too many of them? It is a valid question to ask.