With regard to promised legislation, I would like to ask about progress on the housing (regulation of approved bodies) Bill. This relates to the various bodies that can undertake the construction of public authority housing or private authority housing. Could the Bill include a provision whereby local authorities could be eligible for consideration as approved bodies?

Another issue that has begun to gain air time recently is the apparent hardening attitude among the banks in respect of outstanding mortgages in particular cases where borrowers have consistently striven to meet their payments. In such cases, they should have been entitled to favourable treatment at this stage, but that has not necessarily been the case. In the context of the Central Bank consolidation Bill, could there be a review of the situation with a view to ensuring borrowers who have made consistent efforts to discharge their debts are given helpful treatment?

In respect of the first question, the heads of the Bill were cleared in September and it will be next year before the legislation is published. There is no reason, as has applied for many years, local authorities should not be in the business, or getting back into the business, of building houses. I recall as a member of a local authority there always being a serious housing development programme before the approved housing bodies came along. That Bill will be published next year.

There is no date for the publication of the Central Bank consolidation Bill. The issue the Deputy raised has been dealt with in a number of other ways.