Mr. Michael McGarvey:

I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to clarify. I certainly did not mean to give the impression in any way. I think we made that message clear in Donegal in any of our engagements with any of the groups that our focus is on the homeowners and trying to make this as simple as possible. I did not mean to misrepresent anything. We absolutely empathise and try to work with those who are going through very tough times and whom we want to help do that. We are absolutely convinced we can overcome some of the operational issues we have experienced and we will continue to do that.

In terms of working with the Department and others on ancillary grant payments and other matters, we have made good progress in recent weeks and we hope we will be able to make an announcement very shortly in making it easier for people where they have costs for alternative accommodation, storage and other matters. I am happy to continue to do that. I acknowledge that there are challenges. We will continue to work within the scheme and with the Department, stakeholders and action groups to try to overcome issues. We are listening. We are making improvements and we will continue to do that. I thank the for the opportunity.