Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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I thank the witnesses who attended and, as the Chairperson referenced, the timeliness with which we got this documentation. It was very helpful in preparing for the meeting. There is still a large volume of documentation, which is difficult to get through, but it made a big difference to get it so early in the day.

I will concentrate first on the land aggregation scheme, LAGS, which we referenced. I might circle around to a concern I have in respect of the Housing Finance Agency and issues such as the approved housing bodies, AHBs, and the local authority spends. The committee and the Comptroller and Auditor General do not have a clear line of sight on that. I will see how I am doing on time.

I think we all understand the rationale for what happened between 2010 and 2012. The country’s public finances were in an awful state. These loans were maturing and local authorities were going find themselves significantly underwater. We all understand that. The concern is the metrics applied at the time and subsequently as well. These sites have been assessed on multiple occasions – when they were first bought and in 2018. Am I correct?