John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I understand that, but that is the excuse used by everyone. The fact is that houses do come on the market and some of them are the right price. There are difficulties for people who qualify for social housing and also for those who fall into the category where they have too much income to go onto social housing lists but too little to qualify for a bank loan. That is how they are being viewed at present and there seems to be no possibility of them getting out of the circumstances they find themselves in. They can avail of a shared ownership scheme or some other imaginative way to secure the house that they want, but the banks must come to the table in trying to find a solution to that issue.