Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)

Good afternoon everybody. You are all very welcome back to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We are resuming the discussion on the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) Bill 2024. We are joined by officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I welcome: Mr. Vinny Colgan, from the AHB policy and agency governance business unit; Mr. Liam Murray, AHB policy and agency governance; Mr. Danny O' Sullivan and Mr. David Crowe, from planning, governance and oversight; and Mr. David Healy and Ms Sarah Cooney from the cost rental unit.

I acknowledge that they have already given us a briefing on the Bill and we agreed to these meetings to assist Senators at this stage, given that the Bill has gone through the Dáil.