Mr. Conor Skehan:

As the last of the speakers I want to thank the committee, on behalf of everybody, for the opportunity. This new process of using the already wonderful committee system to explore ideas is a great enhancement of the system. I wish the members well with their work.

I will leave the members with a parting thought. This is a system that we tried, and everybody in the room has agreed that there are merits and problems with it. It is not an unusual system. It has been used in many other European countries and beyond Europe, and there are advantages and disadvantages everywhere. If the agency were to give the members one piece of advice, as well as wishing them good luck, it would be that some of the comments the CIF has made are true but they are true for reasons about which it itself is not entirely clear, which is that the current system produces uncertainty, doubt and risk. Markets must always price in risk so if the members do only one thing they should do everything they can to remove the ambiguity and uncertainty from the existing situation, which has been commented unfavourably upon by at least two High Court judges. Our document to the committee has summarised those findings so if there is any guiding light for the work the members do, it is where there is an opportunity to increase certainty and remove doubt they should do it.

However much they hate a system, if the market knows that is the system and that everybody will be treated the same way, that is at least an advantage. Nobody gets away with it. That is the big issue to leave members with.

I remind the members also that for all its prickliness the Part V measure exists in the context of an increasingly comprehensive and well thought out interlocked system of other measures to produce housing that is both affordable, available and integrated. It is part of a bigger complex. The members should not allow themselves be scared by certain aspects of it because it exists in a much bigger and better thought out system than it did previously. We are finishing where we began by recommending that it continue as it is at the level proposed and with the focus on the social aspect. It is well thought out but they should watch the details and avoid any ambiguity. That reflects well in what Senator Keane said, namely, that this is where many of the issues, particularly about exceptional circumstances, need to be thought through. One size will not fit all and there will always be a case for examining issues on a case by case, site by site and county by county basis. Good luck to the members in their work.