Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is no problem at all. Ms Donaghy said that Home Building Finance Ireland, HBFI, needs to be publicised more and there needs to be more engagement in it. I would be happy to look at that on behalf of people who approach me for housing and who went to local authorities who have said that they are not interested in the area. I would be interested in getting contact details for that. Were Ms Donaghy to email me afterwards with the details, I could engage and then I could help people. This could be a way of bringing in housing. It might be a way of getting them into the housing market. I would be delighted to help in that way myself. It will also help cash flow.

Mr. Doyle mentioned Askeaton and the refurbishment of four existing units. They have been waiting for 33 years on an upgrade on the sewerage system in Askeaton. It is supposed to be in 2026, that is the next time. What is there at present is broken. I compliment the Irish Council for Social Housing for doing up the building in Askeaton but it is being connected back to the existing broken system. It is an environmental problem in itself. We have that in all other areas as well.

On the issue of bringing older buildings back into production, Kilmallock has 14th-century listed buildings. However, there is one conservation officer in Limerick. He has only so much time to go out and to visit these buildings. For people try to bring buildings back into production in the likes of Kilmallock is a costly experience. I actually worked on the credit union in Kilmallock recently. It took us two years to complete it with conservation in order to bring it back into production. I would love to see the likes of Kilmallock rebuilt and going back into production. There are many buildings there that uneconomical to rebuild. However, I would love to keep the street structure and to modernise the back of them. Once they are not an iconic building, I would like them to be brought back in a more sensible way. This is so they will work for the people and get people and footfall back into the towns and villages in the likes of Limerick again.

I would like to hear more about HBFI and about how it can help people from a financial point of view. Can the witnesses explain the process of HBFI, if we had-----