Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

Having been a member of a local authority and as somebody who continues to interface with a local authority on behalf of my constituents, it is fair to reiterate that the level of sympathy and empathy with individual clients is one kind of a positive engagement where the local authority endeavours to do its very best for the client in question. I believe we would all agree on that point. However, there is an inevitability that a certain number of mortgages will go under.

On the specific issues the Deputy raised, it is not fair to assume that because there is a lack of a timescale for the publication the Deputy would infer that it will not be before the summer recess. I can come back to him on the specific matters raised and refer them to the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan.

I will undertake to also refer the Deputy's question on the shared ownership scheme to the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. I am not trying to dodge the issues, I simply do not have the specific replies to the Deputy's questions and I would rather not try to play a game of bluff.

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