Dr. Nat O'Connor:

It is a good idea. Local authorities can do mortgage lending so there could be a tweak to that, as the Acting Chairman says. Someone may own a home which is an asset and which could be worth €300,000, €400,000 or €500,000. They may want something smaller that is, in theory, cheaper. They may also want to take their time to get the right house and when they see it they want to purchase it and it may take them three to six months to sell their house. That is the level of bridging involved and there can also be issues with mortgage financing as they will not lend to people over a certain age and so on. There is a real gap there where people need a product and the local authority could fit well in those instances.