Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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He has contributed on the background to the Bill. Also on the issue of legal advice, this particular area has not been amended in the Constitution since 2004. The legal adviser to the all-party committee was Mr. Gerald Hogan, an eminent constitutional lawyer. We can rely on that, therefore, as being the basis for the kind of balance I am trying to achieve in this Bill. Regarding the term "evictions", we do not use it in our Bill. We are specifically referring to particular circumstances where people get notices of termination of tenancies. Rather than have a blanket concept of eviction, we are dealing with specific areas in our Bill. I will try to respond to the questions raised.

Turning to the question on numbers, the Chair and Deputy O'Dowd referred to the number of people who have to leave their homes for a variety of reasons. It is hard to quantify. Threshold only knows about the cases that come to its attention. The RTB, by and large, only knows the cases taken to it for decision. Similarly, Focus Ireland also has only limited knowledge. I do not know, therefore, if anybody can supply accurate information on this. If we can help the committee to get that information, however, we certainly will be happy to do so.