Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I am glad the Minister of State with responsibility for housing is present because I wish to ask him to do something that he can do, namely, make home owners of 6,000 people who want to be home owners by addressing the memorandum sent to him by Dublin City Council on 13 June in respect of the sale of flats scheme for the 12,000 flats the council owns. I suspect that the Members present either own a house, have a mortgage on a house or have aspirations to own a house.

One of the great achievements of successive Governments was to enable tenants of local authority houses to buy their houses. All studies show that this process transforms the maintenance and care of the house, the family within it and, by extension, the estate in which those people live. They can trade up if that is their aspiration or move sideways if they need to do so. However, one category of people cannot do this: the brothers, sisters, families and neighbours of those in purchased local authority houses who happen to live beside them in local authority flats. According to Brendan Kenny of Dublin City Council, given the opportunity, some 6,000 tenants in this position would probably apply to buy the flats in the morning.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has been in possession of a memorandum since the end of June which was a consolidation and improvement on a previous memorandum of one year earlier. There has been endless discussion on the issue, with which the Minister of State is familiar, but I ask him to take action. He should ensure his Department not only acknowledges the memorandum but responds to it. If he has concerns or queries with regard to its applicability or its viability — I would be the first to accept the system in place is not perfect — he should articulate these and let the city council and its officials respond and address his concerns.

A major concern was the management capability of home owners in a block where 70% might be owner-occupiers and the remaining 30% would be local authority tenants. There was clear demarcation of responsibility and shared accountability. The decision by the city council to retain the management function for the entire physical entity of the block removes that legitimate fear. Down the road, when an expertise has been created and some experience has been gained in regard to owning property in such complexes, it will be possible to consider the next stage when the city council could perhaps transfer the maintenance function of local authority flat complexes to an independent body accountable to the owner-occupiers, the tenants and, by extension, the city council.

There has been a deafening silence from the Minister of State and his Department. I do not know what fear exists or why the Minister of State is worried about responding or saying we should do it. I know people who have been applying to buy their flats in Ringsend and Irishtown for the past 20 years, while their brothers, cousins and neighbours were able to buy their houses, move on and use the proceeds, with or without a clawback, to make the best of their lives. This opportunity is denied to local authority flat dwellers, largely in Dublin City Council areas although there are some in Cork and Limerick and perhaps a very few in Kilkenny city. Some 6,000 people who want to become home owners immediately and who have the capability to become such provided the terms are right and a certain degree of historical——

See this speech in context