Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Mr. Skehan is very welcome. We know each other from the preparation of the Kildare county development plan, on the environmental aspects of which he advised not so long ago. I know he is a sceptic on climate change which is an obvious place to start on the question of what is his concept of a sustainable community. Clearly, sustainability can be environmental, social and economic. I see things like linking land use and transportation planning with greening as incredibly important to sustainable communities. I would welcome Mr. Skehan's thoughts on that. I have been put in the anti-camp over the years and labelled as being against all development, which is not, of course, the case, on foot of my views on planning communities as opposed to building willy-nilly. I make no apology for having taken that approach over decades at this stage. It is an issue that is important to me in terms of the direction the housing agency will be taking. Mr. Skehan has a long-term connection with Fine Gael as an adviser. I presume that has been an entirely professional relationship and that he is not a member of the party. My job is to undertake a bit of scrutiny, which is why I wanted to refer to that.

The agency will clearly have a relationship with NAMA. One of the concerns we have is that there is quite a high vacancy rate around the country, which is not necessarily matched to those areas in which housing is needed. How does Mr. Skehan perceive that being dealt with? From a planning perspective and county development plans, does Mr. Skehan have guidance in terms of what should be included to green communities? The greening question is important given that Mr. Skehan has differing views from me on the climate change issue. There are other issues, including advice on shared-ownership loans and rent supplement, which it will probably be more appropriate to address after Mr. Skehan has spent time in the agency. I would welcome Mr. Skehan providing the committee with a broad view on where he is coming from.