Mr. Nick Henderson:

On the inspection issue, it is worth looking at the difference between the current inspection reports for direct provision and a HIQA inspection report for a nursing home or another type of institution. They are two different things entirely. Dr. Lannon said it all in that respect.

On the approved housing bodies, our report looked at this in detail and it found that there are many advantages in using approved housing bodies, including that they are non-profit and they can provide wraparound supports. There are currently over 500 AHBs in Ireland, ranging from the very large to the very small. The advisory group report published in October and the White Paper both recommended that more vulnerable groups may need different types of accommodation. Our report also looks at how we could use smaller proportions of accommodation from existing or forthcoming developments. It suggests a pivoting of existing approved housing bodies, taking them back to some of their origins where there were huge challenges around accommodation and housing, such that they are purely devoted to this issue.

On the other hand, there are barriers and disadvantages that we would have to surmount. In the seminar we held in June, there was input around the lack of clarity thus far on how an AHB could get involved in this type of accommodation. We have not yet spoken about the current challenge of the housing crisis and the fact that AHBs are embroiled in trying to deal with that challenge. There is also the issue of scale and bringing accommodation on stream. The report does not recommend AHBs as the exclusive accommodation stream, but it is one of several. The report projects that by 2024 this stream will be providing 25% of the accommodation. I will hand back to Dr. Lannon to address the other issues.