Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

We had identified more than 3,800 properties to the housing associations and we were getting frustrated at the length of time it was taking to be processed. Our debtors have the properties on their hands, and there is a strong private rental market. They were asking me how long did they have to hold the properties because they could get them rented. One of the issues was the delivery mechanism. The housing associations must find an approved housing body which will do the long-term leasing and they then seek funding approval from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Some of our debtors and receivers were also not over enthusiastic about allowing this to happen. Having consulted on how to speed up the process, it was decided that we would buy the property from the debtor-receiver, relieving him of that difficulty on the basis that the approved housing bodies identified they wanted properties in the areas and they had the approval of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. We hope that by the end of this year that somewhere between 300 or 400 of those units could be delivered. Once the process is set up, the delivery will be much quicker. We hope that by this time next year the majority of the houses requested by the approved housing bodies - providing they have the funding from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government - will be processed and that well over 1,000 and perhaps 1,200 will be delivered through this mechanism by this time next year.