Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I understand Deputy Ciarán Lynch proposes to share time with Deputy Humphreys.

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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That is correct. I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important matter. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose, for being present to respond.

Tenant purchase of local authority flats has been an issue for more than 30 years. Ultimately, it boils down to a fundamental issue of fairness. Across Ireland, tenants living in local authority flats are being denied the right to buy their homes while neighbours living in local authority houses may avail of this right. In the past 20 years, as property prices and the level of home buying increased exponentially, this group of tenants remained marginalised as a result of being precluded from buying their homes. The right to buy a home is a basic tenet of Irish society.

I hope measurable progress will be made on this issue on which the previous Administration procrastinated. As I speak, Cork City Council and every other council are issuing letters to their respective tenants informing them about a new tenant purchase scheme that is being established. Tenants who have been in situ for 15 years will be able to obtain a 45% discount should they decide to purchase their homes. Tenants of local authority flats, however, a group that has been campaigning on this issue for more than 20 years, will continue to be denied the right to buy their homes. I ask the Government to take a new approach and resolve this issue by affording tenants of local authority flats the right to purchase their homes.

The previous Government, in debates on its Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, indicated it would introduce a statutory framework to allow local authority tenants of flats to purchase their homes under the incremental purchase scheme. While there are some difficulties with this approach, it at least amounted to a step in the right direction. The difficulty is that local authorities have not been facilitated to avail of such a legislative framework. While the House debates this issue, people continue to be denied the right to buy their home.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Lynch for sharing time. The key issue in this debate is one of fairness. Many people in my community believe they are being discriminated against because, having been born and grown up in a local authority flat, they are denied the privilege of purchasing their home. In 1988, when the offer of tenant purchase was rolled out across Dublin, many local authority tenants in my area and the area represented by the Acting Chairman, Deputy Costello, wanted to purchase their homes. This would have many benefits, including the stopping of the rapid changeover within the flat complexes. It would allow people to put down long-term roots within their communities and to envisage their areas as long-term home prospects. Instead, they have been constantly denied.

As Deputy Ciarán Lynch has just noted, there is no difference between a family living in a flat complex and one living in a local authority house. At present however, those who live in the latter are offered a 45% discount on their homes, whereas those who live in a flat complex are told to go on the transfer list in order that they might be transferred into a house some day with the possibility of purchasing it thereafter. Court cases ran from 1988 to 2009 in which families fought a challenge on the grounds they believed they had an agreed purchase price with the local authorities on their homes. They lost that case in 2009 and were tied in a legal limbo. As many of them have stated repeatedly, they have been discriminated against.

There are many positive elements to this initiative, which provides an opportunity for low-income families to put down long-term roots. I refer to the recent "Prime Time" special on Dolphin House and Members are aware of how strapped financially are local authorities. The selling off of some of their apartments would allow local authorities to generate an income and to invest that money in the stock. It is a natural progression to allow people to put down long-term roots in their own communities and I ask the Minister to fast-track this legislation as we need to move quickly on it. A young family who applied to purchase their home in 1988 still are in limbo and consequently, I ask the Minister to move on this matter as soon as possible and thank the Minister of State for taking the debate.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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I thank my party colleagues, Deputies Ciarán Lynch and Kevin Humphreys, for raising this important matter and am pleased to have the opportunity to inform the House of the position with regard to the proposed scheme for the tenant purchase of apartments.

The sale of local authority apartments to tenants has a long and chequered history, as outlined by my colleagues, due largely to the complexity of the issues that are involved in devising ownership arrangements that will protect the interests of everyone involved into the future. Part 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 underpins the scheme now proposed, building on the long-standing arrangements in the private sector for the ownership and management of multi-unit residential developments.

The scheme provides for individual complexes to be designated by the housing authority for tenant purchase, where they meet certain statutory criteria and a substantial majority of the tenants living in them signal in a plebiscite that they wish to have the opportunity to purchase their apartments. Before the first apartments are sold, the authority transfers ownership of the entire complex to a management company established for that purpose, which immediately leases all the apartments back to the authority. The sale of individual apartments is effected by the transfer of the management company's apartment lease from the housing authority to the purchaser.

The new apartment sales scheme will be based on the incremental purchase model introduced in June 2010 for designated newly-built social housing. The level of discounts under the new scheme will, therefore, be related to household income rather than length of tenure. The incremental purchase approach will promote sustainable communities in the complexes concerned because it gives an incentive to purchasers and their families to remain living in the apartments. At the same time, the selling arrangements will ensure the State shares in any windfall profit from re-sale of the apartment before the housing authority's charge on the property withers away. I emphasise I have no proposals to amend the 2009 legislation with a view to selling apartments by any other method.

The necessary commencement order, regulations and detailed guidance must be finalised for the apartment sales scheme to be introduced. The transition from a rented social housing apartment complex to a mixed tenure of privately-owned and social-rented accommodation adds an extra dimension to the legal and practical problems that can arise in private apartment complexes. For this reason, my Department is giving particular attention to the drafting of the necessary documentation for the three complex transfers of property ownership involved in the scheme and for the establishment of the management company, as provided for in the legislation.

My aim is to put in place as soon as possible the last building blocks in a robust legislative framework that will stand the test of time for all stakeholders, that is, apartment buyers, apartment tenants who choose not to buy, and local authorities. I will commit to making progress as quickly as possible on this important issue which, as expounded by both Deputies, focuses on fairness and equality. I will pursue it as expeditiously as possible within the legal complexities as outlined previously.