Mr. John McCarthy:

One initiative we have taken in recent years is that through some of the approved housing bodies, for example, we provide a lesser amount of public funding but enough to act as a seed, if one likes, on foot of which they can attract private funding. It is this sort of mechanism. Obviously, it is also about looking at the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and whether there are opportunities there into which we can tap in a way that does not have an impact on the Government's balance sheet and so on. Basically, any mechanisms that can contribute to the delivery of funding for social housing are being considered, while also taking account of work that has been undertaken and published recently by the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, for example.