Mr. Martin Collins:

Yes, so it is not fair that people would say what we are suggesting is anti-democratic or is a further diminution of local authorities’ powers. It may be a further diminution of their powers, but if that is what is required and is what the evidence is telling us, we have to move in that direction. I return to the issue of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, which was developed in the sixties. There was inherent sectarianism in the allocation of housing whereby nationalists and Catholics were being discriminated against, which partly led to the civil rights movement and certainly led to the establishment of an independent agency where there would be equity, equality and fairness in the allocation of housing-----