Ms Dara Deering:

People can come to us at application stage if they are in the planning process. However, before they draw down funding with the HBFI, and in the vast majority of cases before we approve the funds, they must have the planning in place. The reason for that is exactly what the Deputy said. We do not want to have funding approved if it cannot work through the process because it is still waiting for planning. That is not the quickest or most efficient use of the funding we have available. The reality is that from the time we approve a facility, a number of things have to happen. First, there is a due diligence process to make sure all the checks and balances are in place because we are lending State money but on the other side of it, the housebuilders have to mobilise the resources available, including the labour and materials, to get on site. Sometimes they will be concluding a site purchase as part of that transaction.