Malcolm Noonan (Green Party)

I have just a general question for all three witnesses. There was quite a detailed discussion during the housing committee meeting yesterday on vacancy and dereliction and the notion, which seems to have come across in all three presentations here, of perhaps a one-stop-shop approach to dealing with issues of fire access in the renovation of older buildings in our towns and cities. Is that something all the witnesses would support?

Second, there seems to be a deficit of skills. Some local authorities do not have architectural conservation officers. There is a deficit of skills in terms of conservation-grade architects and the skills to upgrade. In the context of our older, pre-1919 building stock, inappropriate interventions on many of those buildings, as Dr. Kinnane pointed out, could cause serious damage to their fabric. Dr. Kinnane might make a general comment on the one-stop-shop approach and, perhaps, the skills required to realise the potential of these older buildings.