Ms Tina Donaghy:

We want to reduce the cost to the Exchequer. We want to make what we manage more sustainable in the long term, because we are in this for the long run, as Ms Hegarty and some Deputies mentioned. We want our homes to be on the marketplace for 100 years. We hope the stresses and difficulties we are experiencing at present are short term. To alleviate them, we might need to look at lengthening the financial model on a short-term basis, such as the CALF and the payment and availability schemes.

Deputy Ó Broin mentioned the challenges with the HFA's increase in interest rates. It caught some of our members unaware because they had no headroom. I had a €22 million project on the cusp of starting. It was just awaiting project approval. Everything had been lined up. We were hit with an interest rate hike. I was lucky to be in the position of having a bit of headroom. I was at my maximum rental for that area, which is not that high, but I had not maximised the CALF. It allowed me to increase the CALF by a very small percentage, of 1% or 2%, which covered the interest rate. That is where many members were caught. It is a difficulty. We do not want this to happen because it slows the process. We have to feed back to the developers and builders that the process has been elongated. Time has been added, which increases uncertainty and cost. The developer has to price it in. It is about better engagement.

I do not think we will cover them today but there are many alternatives we can look at. We need to look at alternative contract forms such as PPC 2000 which is more of a partnering contract. We need to talk about supply chain management and to engage with larger developers who have larger buying capacity, if they are prepared to sign up to a longer term deal where we can have repeat business and fixed key performance indicators that will reduce costs, terms and time. There are obvious things we can build in. Our system is very rigid. We have a GCCC or a new build development agreement with the contractor. At times, we to hold them to account. We ask them to tender and operate on an open book basis with us. We want the assurance that what we are getting value for money and it does not just run away, because it must be sustainable. We can use various approaches that would give us greater confidence that we are getting the best deal we can, as well as to build some resilience into our system and not allow the costs to run away with themselves.