Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

It was never meant for the landlords to sell. The focus was always on tenants who were in danger of being made homeless. Examples have emerged. For example, in some local authorities, no sooner was a house acquired than enormous funds were immediately put into retrofitting it and so on. That was never the original objective of the scheme. It was to get houses acquired to stop them from being sold and to stop someone from being made homeless. Some councils did not operate the scheme as it should have been operated. I know the Opposition just wants to keep on throwing money at every scheme and not review or examine it.

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