Ms Mary Hayes:

Only if we have to place someone - it could be in my own local authority. Sometimes, I ask my staff why this person from Dublin City Council is coming in with a landlord notice of termination and why were we not successful on a tenant in situ. We are examining that internally. There will be a different issue in reporting. It is a key issue for us regarding why that prevention is not working. On length of time, I think when we were before the committee previously, we optimistically said it could be four months. In reality, that would be a very clean one. It is a bit like any sale to get to sale agreed and conveyancing and related issues. The valuation process is relatively straightforward. We are waiting a couple of weeks for an inspection at the moment. We can prioritise them if we feel there is a priority case and the clock is ticking against us. In Dublin City Council, we have a high focus and are keen on cases in which there are more children in the family, a disability or an age vulnerability. We try to prioritise those cases first. By and large, once we get in contact with the landlord, we reassure them, tell them what it will take and try to give them a sense that it will take about four months if all goes well. There can be delays when it comes to conveyancing, title documents and legal matters. In some cases, we have got to the point where they will not accept the valuation. That does happen - I am not trying to oversell it. More people accept the valuation than do not but it can happen that you go that far and it will not be accepted.

On overholding, I will say very little other than that we see it. Sometimes it is by consent. For example, someone will tell us they are looking to come into emergency accommodation, that everything is gone and they are overholding. If it is a case that we do not have the accommodation size to meet their need on a particular night and we can contact the landlord we ask them to hold them for another day or two until we get something. That happens. People voluntarily choose to overhold. I will hand over to my colleagues who are more familiar with that.