John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The order establishing this committee requires it to provide an interim report to the Dáil outlining its proposed work schedule for consideration by the Dáil on 28 April. As discussed at our meeting of 20 April, a draft copy of the interim report was circulated to members last Friday and comments were requested to be submitted by 12.30 p.m. yesterday. Ten key issues have emerged which people seem to be happy to pursue. The real issue is who members feel should be our key witnesses.

This afternoon we will meet members of the City and County Managers Association. On Thursday morning, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government will attend the morning session and representatives of the Housing Agency and the Irish Council for Social Housing will attend in the afternoon. That is the extent of the invitations issued to date. The rest will emerge from the piece of work we will now do.

Working through the issues presented, the first relates to the Government strategy for housing and homelessness and, as I said, the Minister will be in attendance on Wednesday. We are due to work over a six week period so we need to manage the number of witnesses to be effective in what we are doing and prioritise who we want to attend in the different categories.