Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be quick. On the point the Minister made about uniformity on guidelines, I certainly am getting issues about being overoccupied or underoccupied. It is important the Minister would restate that to local authorities.

Some landlords are telling me it is quicker to do a private sale than the tenant in situ. I actually rang a landlord last week and I asked him if he would engage with the local authority because the family were facing homelessness. Cork City Council - the Minister might have the figures for Cork city and county - is doing great work. My issue is whether it has the staff to do it with the volume that is coming at it.

I welcome the scheme. I want to see it succeed. My party has been on for a long time about rolling the scheme out, and it was good that the Minister took our suggestions and those of others on board because we can work together sometimes, such as when it comes to trying to prevent people from going into homelessness. The issues are the resources and trying to get the sales done quicker.

I would like to see the data in relation to refusals. Why were they refused? The Minister has mentioned a few reasons he is trying to work around. That is one benefit when you have data. You are able to look at it and work out if there are any issues. I am aware Cork City Council has had one or two where it could not buy the properties because they were so bad but it has put them into social housing. I suppose they co-operate. We want this to work. We really do.

On the issue of resources, are local authorities slow to ask for more staff?