Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin has money than we do. It gets it from different sources. I will move on.

In the case of voluntary housing, there is a system under which tenants are not allowed to buy out their houses. I was a member of a local authority for 20 years prior to coming into the House and always wondered why people could not buy out their house in the same way one could buy from the county councils and so on. Families have a house and will pay a mortgage for ten, 15 or 20 years, but they can never own it. I always thought that was wrong. Taxpayers money was put into such housing. If someone is long enough in a house, say, for seven years, he or she should be allowed to buy it out. Will the Housing Agency ever consider changing that provision in order that houses could be purchased and bought out?