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

The Minister is saying that, in general, where the capital is available local authorities will be encouraged to acquire rather than lease, but that creates a major slippery slope. I suspect this provision will mean that the bulk of the 10% will end up being leased, and the Minister has not convinced me so far that this will not be the case.

On the profit issue, we know there has been a major problem in terms of negotiating about the price. I do not understand why it is not sufficient that they make profit on the 90%. It does not cost them anything but there is an obligation to give us cost price on the 10%. That is an entirely reasonable question to ask.

I raise a somewhat related matter so that I can raise it on Report Stage. Has the Minister thought about including a reference in the Bill to the local authorities having the money to buy existing property of individual units when it goes on the market? A case arose recently in my area where a landlord is having to sell and evict their tenant. However, the landlord does not want to evict the tenant and has asked the local authority to buy the house and allow the tenant to stay, and the local authority said it does not have the money. In those instances, and there may be quite a few of them - we know this is happening - there should be some way that we can tell the local authority to buy the house. This particular landlord is saying they will sell it to the local authority at a discount rate because they do not want to see this person on the street. That is an acquisition area where we could get permanent social housing and save people being made homeless if local authorities are given the approval and the money to do so.