James Bannon (Fine Gael)

Senator Moylan's point is that local authority housing should not be sold, but control on the sale of such housing would be a better option. The sale or lease of houses should be subject to the terms and conditions of the local authority involved and these should be clarified so that houses are not sold to speculators. I believe in control of sales but, where necessary, houses should be sold and guidelines should be in place for such sales.

A greater percentage of the receipts from the sale of houses that are resold within 20 years of purchase should be allocated to the coffers of local authorities. It is important that legislation should be introduced to that effect.