Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to also touch on another issue, which is voluntary housing agencies buying up housing estates. Whereas a private developer has an obligation to provide a certain number of houses for social housing, when voluntary housing agencies come in, they are buying up entire estates. Then, the person who may want to buy a house there is excluded from the whole area. I have come across a number of cases recently where young people cannot buy in their own area because all the houses are being bought up by the voluntary housing agencies. Part of this issue is that on the one hand private development must provide a percentage for social and affordable housing but there is no obligation on a voluntary housing agency to make sure that people who want to buy can also do that. There is not a certain percentage that can be bought privately.