Mr. Frank Curran:

We welcome the Bill, there is no question about that. There is a lot of clarity on eligibility which is useful as it is more streamlined now and focused on the individual, which will be very welcome. On priority, it is effectively first come, first served. If there is an affordable housing scheme available, it will be advertised, people will apply, they will be assessed on their length of time living in the area, the suitability of the house and when they applied. Rather than going into distance from home to work and home to school which is cumbersome and inconsistent around the country, it simplifies it. The plan is to have 70% of units allocated on those priorities and then 20% through a local scheme which local councils will arrive at. That is very welcome. The clarification around the charging period is welcome. We have been in discussion with the Department on the serviced site fund and expanding it, which would be very useful. There is a question of what happens to unsold affordable units, whether they transfer to social housing, for instance, as is effectively the case now. That is something we need to consider. If there is a change of circumstances while we are building these units, there needs to be consideration of what happens if the houses are not sold. Acquiring land is a big issue. It is a big outlay for us. Currently, we recoup those funds when we start building, which is effectively stage 4 of the four-stage approval process which I mentioned. Bringing that forward a stage or two might allow us to buy more land for social and affordable housing. We will continue to discuss issues such as that with the Department, but generally we very much welcome the Bill.