Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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On the point about the private market, the supports are, of course, important but in many local authority places, there will be a liaison officer and, perhaps, a community room, and that might be the extent of the supports. What is more attractive is the size of the unit and the collective nature of it. There is an area in my locality known as Wadelei, which was privately built in the 1950s, and maisonettes were built as part of the offering. In several parts of that estate, people have moved from three-bedroom houses to the maisonette on their road, and may even have sold the house to a family member who took the larger property. They moved because the stock was available. I believe the private market has missed a trick and, therefore, it is up to us to try to respond to that. Those types of houses marketed to senior citizens that are purely for a private transaction, whereby the financial resources are there from selling the private family home, are something Ireland does not do, unlike other countries, and I think we are missing a trick in that regard.