Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

There is an old saying that the Ritz is available to everyone, in other words, anyone with enough money can go into the Ritz. This Bill is a little like that old saying. The Government is offering people the chance to buy their home but there is a condition of sale which will make it impossible for them to buy. The Minister of State's reply was most disingenuous but I am not certain that I blame him. I think he has been convinced by the argument that this is a good deal but he has failed to take a serious look at the people who are now in their late 40s and early 50s, who have been trying to buy their homes for 20 years. There is no recognition of their effort. As Deputy McCormack said, when the forms come through the door from the local authority, most of those people will not fill them out for the simple reason that they filled them out 20 years ago and nothing came of it. Now they are no longer in a position to get a mortgage that will cover the entire cost of purchase. The Minister of State must recognise this fact. Even with the 40% equity, these people must also be given the 30% discount because they would have got that anyway. Someone in an apartment for the past two years and who decides to purchase will be given the same deal as those people. They have been paying rent, maintaining their properties and maintaining entire communities, as Deputy Catherine Byrne said. They could have left, they could have walked away but they did not; they stayed. If it was not for them, we would have bigger trouble than we have now in the form of anti-social behaviour.

I ask the Minister of State to take another look at this amendment and to use his common sense. He knows as well as I do that this is a good amendment that will save us all an awful lot of grief.

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