John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I said thanks for the promotion. I was called "Deputy" rather than "Senator" but I will take it, thanks very much.

In relation to the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme, has the Minister come across any issues with regards to slowness in terms of processing structural reports? I understand it takes time to conclude a sale but where timelines are tight and you have a tenant's landlord who has not had an offer from the Housing Agency in terms of the price, the termination date is coming up and the Housing Agency states it cannot give an offer until they have a structural report conducted on it. In fairness to the landlord, I can understand why he or she may state that as he or she does not know what that offer is going to be and whether it will be far below what the landlord considers to be the value of the property, he or she therefore has served the valid notice of 12 months or whatever it is. Equally, I can see it from the other side where you have a tenant who potentially does not have somewhere to go. Is there a way of front-loading the offer where at least you know whether you are in the ballpark and whether there is a discussion to be had in that regard?

At the moment, I have one constituent where that is the case. No structural report has been conducted on the property and they are being told by the Housing Agency that while a structural engineer will carry it out, we do not know when. The termination notice date is fast approaching.