John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank both local authorities for being with us this afternoon from Limerick and Waterford. They are two very proactive local authorities in their space and they are leaders in different areas. The benefit of these committee hearings is that we can tease out what is working well and where, and what improvements we can bring to local authorities in other areas to ensure, if not that we are reinventing the wheel, that we take best practice and apply it across the country.

Waterford is the leader in respect of the repair and leasing scheme; Limerick is the leader in respect of CPOs and up there in respect of the buy and renew scheme. Perhaps we could start with those schemes. How has the repair and leasing scheme worked so well in Waterford in delivering over 150 units? How has Limerick managed to CPO over 100 units over the past three years where other local authorities have failed to CPO any? If the witnesses could start with those two questions, we would be very interested to hear their responses.