Mr. Seán Armstrong:

What we have said is that it may have an impact on the supply of rented housing and that this should be considered in the EU impact assessment and different scenarios modelled in order to mitigate the impact on the supply of housing. Our first question is: has the EU Commission, in drafting this directive, considered the impact of minimum BERs on the supply of housing and is it suggesting any supports to address that? That was our question to the Commission. However, nationally, we intend to do a study on this to understand the impact, what types of dwellings will be impacted, what is the cost and what is the profile of the occupants of those dwellings. We are developing that study and we want to do that analysis. Then it is about implementation and implementing it in the most effective and just way, taking account of the just transition. We have put the question to the Commission, but we will do a study on that at national level as well.