Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy made a fair point. The Minister of State and I have discussed that issue. A valid argument can certainly be made because the more people who own their houses, the better. However, there is a snag. I have been a great proponent of people owning their houses from the day I was elected to this House but I have been told that, in certain cases, when people bought the houses, particularly in towns with third level institutions, within ten years all those houses were let. This gave rise to a new type of dereliction, with landlords letting the houses to students, migrant workers and so forth. The houses in the estates were not cared for.

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