Mr. Kieron Brennan:

Senator Murnane O'Connor mentioned Fruithill, a large project which we announced a couple of weeks ago. The Senator was in attendance at the announcement, it was a great day. It is an interesting project in that it is mixed tenure - the holy grail of housing development.

It contains a mixture of social and private housing. We put some youth services on the site as well. We have two local authorities, Laois and Carlow, nominating into that site. It is a great example of how we should be dealing with the housing crisis. That was a NAMA site and we were able to do it because we were dealing with a lease arrangement. In the absence of an affordable scheme, how could we go out and purchase stock to try to replicate it? We would need a scheme allowing us to purchase and put stuff on at market rate. It is difficult for AHBs or any players, including local authorities, to come up with those options. It might be facilitated through local authority or State lands being used for that purpose. The affordability piece could be offset against the value of the site, for example.

Senator Murnane O'Connor also mentioned tenant purchase. AHBs do not do that for a number of reasons. In our own case, it is a matter of belief and the reasons for which we were established. We want to provide social rental on an ongoing basis. One of the reasons we are in our current difficulties is that local authorities sold off a lot of their stock and are now short. We have less social housing available in this crisis than would have been the case had this not happened. That is just my view and the view of my organisation.

As a co-operative body, we support people into home ownership on a co-operative basis. For example, in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown the local authority has provided a site and people have come together to form a co-operative. They are going about building units for their own benefit and, at the end of the process, the units will be in private ownership. The owners will have achieved this through a co-operative and affordable model. That is something that could be replicated on a wider basis.

I will pass some of the other issues raised to my colleagues. Mr. Cathal Callan might wish to address Deputy Ó Broin's questions about the payment and availability agreements and possible alternatives.