Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the regulations were put in place to ensure communities were of a mixed tenure and to enable integration. However, if the tenant to whom I referred were to buy her house in the morning, she would still be the same person. It will not change the make-up of the community if she transitions from a social housing tenant to the owner of her home by way of the tenant purchase scheme. I would understand if the property in question was designed for somebody with a disability, in which case it would be in the best interests of the council to retain it in the longer term given the huge shortage of properties suitable for persons with disabilities. However, we are talking about a three-bedroom semi-detached house which has not been upgraded or refurbished to make it accessible. The tenant and her family have been living there for ten years and, under the current legislation, will never have the opportunity to purchase it. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to consider introducing a once-off break to allow people like this woman the opportunity to buy their own home under the tenant purchase scheme? It would not have to be open-ended arrangement. In fact, something similar was done in the past, in 2011, when the scheme was opened up for 12 months. I am calling for an exemption, for a limited time period, for people in the same position as the tenant to whom I referred, under Part V of the Planning and Development Act, as amended.

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