Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Those questions are nearly all for me. I thank Deputy Ó Fearghaíl for the constructive suggestions he made which we will examine. He referred to grants and the possibility of a fair deal-type approach to them. There is merit in such an approach. He also inquired about a tenant purchase scheme for the voluntary sector. We will introduce an incremental purchase scheme in the near future. I agree that is an issue we must examine, in particular where 100% public capital funding has been provided.

On the transfer of rent supplement, the housing agency will provide training for local authorities. We are trying to devise the best possible system of payment which does not involve local authorities having to chase individuals for rent supplement. We are working on that.

The Deputy also inquired about my long-term vision on RAS and leasing.

Our vision is that we will be able to go back to building more local authority type housing but for the moment we do not have the money and therefore we must use these measures to provide opportunities for people to have homes.

That comes back to the issue raised by Deputy Ellis. It is all very well to say that we should be buying houses and building houses but we would only cater for a fraction of the number of people who need housing in the current economic climate.