Dr. Nat O'Connor:

On the general point, I agree with Mr. Moynihan on the need for cross-departmental work and a many of the schemes like the housing aid grant underpin that. We get the data on the number of people who apply for these schemes but it is up to people to apply. We do not know or have a good sense of what the level of housing need in the population is. The census only gets us so far; there is a need for more analysis of the overall housing needs of older persons and of all the costs associated with ageing. There needs to be a great deal more research done to bring together the three Departments to help drive policy forward.