Ms Kathleen Holohan:

As Ms Hurley said, 16 local authorities are working on choice-based letting. Some of the smaller local authorities are of the opinion that it might not suit their circumstances. The IT system has been shown in Cork to work well. A manual system is seemingly resource-intensive. I take the Deputy's point that people need support. In addition to the concept of a walk-in clinic, the potential exists for people to use libraries where staff would be in a position to help people with the online system. The income issue is being examined. It causes issues, in particular when people in bordering counties may be in different bands. That is particularly frustrating for everyone involved. People can find themselves just over the limit because they are a few miles down the road from the area they see as their natural home.

Different local authorities approach the issue of single people who live at home in different ways. People's circumstances are assessed on a case-by-case basis. Traditionally, they would never even have been considered, but that has changed. It is provided for in the regulations that a local authority should take into account the accommodation the person is in but the schemes are flexible enough to allow local authorities to have regard to individual circumstances. Equally, the case of a person from one county who is in a domestic violence situation is dealt with on a case-by-case basis and between adjoining local authorities. There is no blanket rule to say that a person from Carlow, for example, who experiences domestic violence must be dealt with by Carlow County Council and not by another local authority.

The HAP transfer list could be examined in respect of choice-based letting. I do not know off the top of my head whether that is used in any local authority area.