Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have only a minute but there are a few things that need to be recognised. On voids, there is a house in the heart of the town of Killarney that has been vacant for five years. The Department is refusing to fund the €110,000 needed to bring that house back into use. That is only one of them.

This rule where tenants cannot purchase a county council house if it was built after 2015 is nonsensical. If the people are willing to purchase the house, they have pride in their house, they want to keep it and they want stay there, surely one should give them the opportunity. This rule that if it was built after 2015, it cannot be included for tenant purchase is wrong.

We must build more local authority houses for that reason. The houses of the voluntary bodies are fine but one can never buy them out. It is the ambition of many people to own the house they are living in but they cannot purchase the houses provided by the voluntary housing bodies. I am asking that the local authorities build more houses. The Minister should give them the autonomy to do that and allow the tenants to purchase the houses that were built after 2015.

Those are simple changes that would mean a lot. All these affordable housing schemes, etc., are not working. People would dearly wish to buy their council house if they were allowed to do so.

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