Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

The Minister of State's management of the issue is at question. This has been a core question related to the Bill since it came before the House. The question was when would there be a legislative framework for the sale of flats. Every Deputy who raised this question was informed that the legislative framework would be in place when the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was dealt with by the Dáil. That framework was not included in the Bill when it came before the Dáil; it only came in two weeks' ago. The Minister of State has not given enough time for the Bill to be debated in detail and he is covering up the absence of a proper debate on this issue. At the eleventh hour we have to appeal to him to rectify something because the Bill has been mismanaged with regard to the affordability factor. People cannot get a mortgage at this stage because they will be unable to clear that mortgage before the age of 65.

I will pause while the Minister of State confers with his officials. I refer to an anomaly with regard to incremental purchase which has been created by the Minister of State. The mortgage must be taken out over a minimum of 20 years.

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