Mr. Paddy Mahon:

Proper governance is needed regardless of what is being done. That is the first point. Housing for All is very ambitious, providing for around 30,000 units per year right through to 2030. That is substantial investment and many strands of that investment involve a lot of different agencies. Our experience of the Department, as I said earlier, is generally very positive. We will not always agree on everything but through our local elected members and the elected Members of the Oireachtas, we always make the case for accelerating our own housing development, engaging with the AHBs, looking at vacancy and looking through the lens we have in Longford. The Department has an obligation to cover the whole State. As recently as last night, we had a very positive meeting with the Department on vacancy, affordable housing, the retrofit programme and the voids programme. A member of the team came down to our chamber in Longford and we had a very positive and meaningful engagement. We are able to meet each other in person and explain our concerns and the Department can do likewise. That is a good and positive relationship. We will not always agree but we have managed to achieve our targets thus far. We are now on a journey on Housing for All and I hope we will achieve the targets the Department set for us between now and 2026.