Ms Dara Deering:

To be clear, no exception was required in respect of the legislation. In the context of the legislation that governs the HBFI, our mandate is to support all housing schemes where there is a gap in finance, provided they are commercially viable. Additionally, and as part of fulfilling that mandate, we are constantly trying to identify if gaps have emerged. Given what happened in the context of the impact of Covid-19 and the banks having to focus on putting payment breaks in place for consumers and SMEs, it was obvious that finance for construction would be a constraint. We saw that as well after the last global financial crisis.