Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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My apologies for being late as I was caught in the Dáil. I welcome the witnesses. What has come to light in the reports so far is damning, to say the least. I know that efforts are being made to get on top of these issues. I hope this can happen and that the Peter McVerry Trust can get back on track. I know it has done good work in the past and that needs to be acknowledged as well.

Coming from down the country, I have a very hazy picture of how the trust operates and what it does. In recent years, the trust started operating in Laois. I do not expect Ms Woods to have the figures off the top of her head but she might come back to me with these. How many tenancies does the trust have in Laois and how many of them are tenanted at the moment? I would also like to know their locations and the nature of the tenure. Are they leased or are the purchased properties? I know the trust has ten leased from Respond in Gortinore, Abbeyleix, which I have a question about that in a minute. What are the other locations in Laois?

Another issue I want to mention is that trying to get in contact with somebody from the Peter McVerry Trust has been "Mission Impossible". I am not just speaking for myself as I know others have tried as well. It would be useful if we had a contact number. We may need to contact the trust every two or three years but we do not have a number. When the public cannot get a result they expect us to be able to talk to somebody. Communication is very important. Bad internal communication may have led to some of the problems the trust has at the moment. It does cause a lot of problems for us.

There have been some problems with the Abbeyleix operation. It has not been all bad but the biggest problem is that when there were problems, it was very difficult to get anybody to sort it out. The local authority might clarify this but as I understand it, the local authority generally puts forward tenants for the trust to accept or reject and generally this is agreed between the two bodies. Will Ms Woods confirm that this is operating? Because the trust is a charity it is a registered approved housing body because it is under examination by the approved housing body regulator so it is one of those. Are the trust's tenants coming with recommendation from the housing officer in Laois County Council or not? A short answer will suffice. For any questions that Ms Woods does not have an answer, let me know and she can send me the answers. I will be happy enough to receive them in a week or a fortnight.