Mr. Brian O'Gorman:

The idea of a special arrangement with regard to allocations is welcome in some ways if it gives the landlord more autonomy. My understanding is that it is more targeted at particular locations. I heard an example recently of a cost rental-scheme being built quite close to a hospital, where an allocation scheme could be introduced that favoured medical workers. As a personal view, I am not in favour of any kind of designation of key or special workers. All workers, whatever they might be, are workers and should be treated the same way. A person should not be preferred for schemes just for having a particular job. In general, the AHBs would prefer a broader application of these rules as if people are not housed, they are not housed. There is a huge housing need and while there is the issue of applying scarce resources as they need to be applied, for AHBs, in terms of managing the units and long-term demand, the broader those can be left, the better.