James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In my own village of Legan six state-of-the-art three and four bedroom houses were built on one quarter acre sites. The company went into receivership and the houses were recently sold for €152,000 after the local authority had spent approximately €200,000 in refurbishing the surrounds. They were sold at a knockdown price. We need an effective housing strategy to deal with this sort of issue. We also need incentive schemes to kick-start the purchase of property outside Dublin. There is a crisis in this city, but that crisis has not extended to rural Ireland, where one can still purchase good quality three bedroom houses for less than €30,000 closer than 100 km from the capital. Something needs to be done to revitalise rural Ireland. I hope the Government takes note of this.

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