Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am fully aware that trying to move units from NAMA into social housing is not black and white all the time. Neither is it easy for NAMA to sell units all the time. There are complications about selling units under many of these projects. Many of these housing units or apartments would not necessarily suit social housing but many of them would. Does the Minister of State agree that currently, large stocks of apartments or houses that are being sold off, be it by NAMA or by the banks, at less than what it would cost to build the units tomorrow, even if one were to get the land for nothing? The notion that the State would sell property that could be used for social housing purposes in order to bring in some money, even though the units are being sold for less than it would cost to build them, does not make sense. It is a good time for the State to use these assets to provide for its people and to direct them towards social housing provision rather than selling them off to bring in some funds.

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