Ms Claire Hanna:

I came a little late to the meeting, so I am not sure if the issue I am raising was discussed already but I do not think it was. In Northern Ireland, there is now a deepening conversation about the overall funding settlement. This is not so much about the issues arising from the fiscal commission and further devolution, but about the need for a fiscal floor and the suitability of the Barnett formula. Zooming out from, as Mr. Mac Flynn put it, the punishment and punishing budget we have, I refer to an acknowledgement that the composition of the block grant is simply not suitable or adequate. Does Mr. Mac Flynn have a view on this point? What should the priorities be if the current stalemate morphs into a discussion about a new package or new arrangements for getting the Assembly back?

I would be interested in hearing some comments on housing. Anybody working in the North as an elected representative knows there is increasing pressure on housing that is now bubbling up to crisis point. This is especially the case in the private rental sector, which is a crushing experience for those individuals impacted. Increasingly, however, it is impacting both the ability to recruit students from overseas and investors in the same way as has been the case in Dublin. I refer to the inability of companies' workforces to be able to readily find somewhere to live potentially acting as a limiter on investment decisions. I wonder if Mr. Mac Flynn has a comment to make on this aspect and if there are steps that should be taken now to try to stop this problem in its tracks. Obviously, I am not asking him to comment on the wider housing context, but are there economic considerations that should be factored in whenever we talk about increasing the supply of housing?