Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

It was done in the past. It might be cheaper in some respects. It is certain that we cannot simply use the existing system which does not take into account the market value of the houses or the income of many of the people in them. By definition, people who earned higher incomes and wanted to own their own houses gave up on buying their flats many years ago and moved on. Therefore, a different cohort with a lower threshold of income now lives in those flats. However, they still want to buy and ownership is a better social bet in terms of fairness for the occupants and social stability in the flat complexes.

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