Mr. Coil?n O'Reilly:

-----and then there are another 6,000 who have local authority social housing and who are looking to transfer.

In essence, on the question around tenantsin situ, the problem for us is that we cannot buy somebody else's problem. For instance, with an attic conversion that does not meet building regulations or fire regulations, it is difficult for us to purchase that property and then say we are very happy for a social housing tenant to live in that property.

How the HAP system works is that people rent on the private market. There may be a requirement for a private rented inspection, if the tenant requires it, or people like environmental health officers go out and inspect and then give recommendation notices. The other issue with a tenant in situis that sometimes the landlord does not wish to sell to the local authority. Another issue is encroachment or irregular title whereby the title of the land on which the house is built is not properly registered, which is very difficult.

I fully understand because as I said, when those people end up in homelessness, they come in through the front door of Parkgate Hall and they are our issue. From our point of view, however, we also cannot buy other people's problems and create more difficulty for ourselves or leave people in a situation we know to be unsafe. I fully understand the frustration with Dolphin House.

There is potential for 500 units at the site. A significant number of environmental impact assessment reports must be done. We are looking to expedite this process.

With regard to the timeline, the local community asked us for an honest assessment of what would be delivered. We were not going to over-promise and under-deliver. We tried to give people a realistic timeframe. I accept that it is a long time. We will do what we can to expedite it.