Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Everything, including bank debts, can become complex when we try to do something but we must try to make this simple. There are almost 17,000 vacant houses in unfinished estates but 100,000 people are on the waiting list. The Minister of State mentioned issues regarding the purchase of houses. Many of these houses are now for sale for less than €50,000, and there is a cost at the end of the process. That is seven years of rent.

Will the Minister of State reply to me on the idea of a rent to buy scheme? There are conditions for planning in some of these estates that relate to social housing but there could be a scheme where the tenants could rent a property and own it after a period. There could also be a super-affordable scheme, as it were. I could show the Minister of State some estates where properties cannot be sold, although she probably knows them. There are apartment blocks outside Dublin for which people cannot get loans so why are we not moving to use some of them for homeless people? We are paying millions of euro for rent allowance in a process that cannot continue as it is.

There are local authority estates that have not been completed because of inadequate funds. If a local authority has to spend €100,000 finishing an estate, should it get some units in lieu of the work when there is no money for payment? I am trying to provide solutions.

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