Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Section 22(3) states:

(3) The purchase of a house under this Part does not apply to—(a) a separate and self-contained dwelling in a building that—

(i) is divided into a dwelling and one or more dwellings or other properties or both, and

This refers to flats or maisonettes. I think it is unfair on the people in flats and maisonettes. Notwithstanding my agreement with Deputy Catherine Murphy on the point that the State should replace any housing it sells on a house-by-house basis, if we have a tenant purchase scheme it should apply equally to everyone. It is not fair otherwise. In our area, people get allocated whatever house they are allocated and it may be a self-standing house or it may be a maisonette. In the older parts of Dun Laoghaire and Monkstown Farm, people live in the up-down flats and they cannot buy them. The same applies to some of the new apartment complexes. This is not fair and it is discrimination against people who are allocated a flat or a maisonette. I ask the Minister of State whether she agrees it is unfair and discriminatory and whether she will remove the exclusion from the Bill.