Ms Caroline Timmons:

I fully agree with what my colleague said. On counties that have done what we are discussing previously and that are not doing so now, a comment was made earlier about the loss of expertise in the sector. Maybe what we needed to do was step out the process. That has now been done with the Housing Agency and the Department. It is also a matter of understanding where to access the knowledge, allowing the likes of Longford local authority to ring up the Housing Agency and ask how something can be done. The local authorities know this now and each has a VHO. We have advised that each authority should have its VHO work with its town centre person and that it should form units where possible. We fully agree that where this is not possible, having a cross-council steering group is a really good idea. Smaller authorities like that in Carlow are taking the unit approach while others are taking the steering group approach. Both are valid, depending on the size of the organisation and who is dealing with what therein. We can certainly see the concerted approach now. That will solve some of the issues associated with the loss of expertise over the years. Expertise will return and there may be a broader way to access the expertise of other local authorities.