Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I support the amendment. What Deputy Byrne said in regard to Dublin applies equally in Galway or any other area where there are local authority flat complexes or maisonettes. The Bill has been promised for many years and I was told several times it would come to the House in the next session. Finally, it is before the Dáil. It is simply a matter of the Minister of State acceding to this amendment to allow people in those complexes who have made inquiries through their public representatives and directly to the city councils, which are the authorities generally involved, to proceed with buying out their accommodation. They were always told that legislation would have to be introduced and that the local authority could do nothing about it.

House ownership is very important to the Irish people. It is bred in their psyche and people like to have the pride of owning their homes. In my experience, even as tenants these people have looked after their homes very well and improved them, even at their own expense in many cases where they could not wait for the local authority to do the necessary repairs and, in some cases, they improved them beyond the standard the local authority would have been able to achieve. We should allow those people this opportunity through the Bill, which is the only opportunity we will have, although not all will avail of the opportunity. As I noted on Committee Stage, given the way the Bill is laid out, if more than 25% of the residents of a flat complex or maisonette area do not agree to buy out their property, they will be denied this opportunity, which is very unfair and penalises those who want to buy their property.

In my time on Galway City Council, when such matters were raised we were told it was simply not possible according to the current regulations to allow people in flats and maisonette complexes to buy out their properties. We have had to wait since that time, perhaps ten years or at least since the dual mandate was abolished, before reaching the stage where the legislation is in the Dáil. We would be letting down those who made representations to Oireachtas Members as well as to many council members if we did not support this amendment.

While I anticipate the amendment will go to a vote, I appeal to the Minister of State not to allow it to do so. He should concede this is a logical and fair amendment which would satisfy needs and give people an opportunity to purchase their homes. As Deputy Byrne said, these people have been part of their communities for perhaps ten, 20 or 30 years, and in some cases for generations. To deny them the opportunity to own and look after their own homes is a retrograde step. I make a serious appeal to the Minister of State who, though he does not represent an urban area, understands the reality of the situation in urban areas, where this mainly applies.

If this amendment is not accepted by the Minister of State, the tenants of those complexes will be treated as second class citizens compared to their counterparts in local authority housing, perhaps just across the road from them. It is clear discrimination in regard to flat and maisonette complexes. The Minister of State should be big enough to accept this amendment or, if it must be rewritten in some manner, to make a change to what is currently proposed. If this legislation goes through as it stands, the opportunity will forever be denied to those people, which is not fair.

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