Dr. Donal McManus:

To answer his first question on proliferation, there has been major consolidation since 2008. Prior to that many associations received capital grants or loans to provide housing, but after the financial crash in 2008 that no longer happened. Very few bodies have been established in the past five, six or seven years. Some housing associations merged and other local voluntary bodies came together.

As a result of the downturn, there are fewer associations providing newer housing. There are probably about 15 or 20 under the mixed funding private finance model and another 20 or 30 in the CAS scheme. It is ironic that there has been much more consolidation. Given that there are now multiple layers of regulation, I suspect there will be more consolidation rather than proliferation in the coming years.