Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have committed to completing and dealing with the report in this quarter but it may be in the new year as some legal issues have to be sorted out. Once it is published, we can make decisions and we will do so early in the new year because it is an important area. I do not promise the full solution sought by the Senator but we are trying to find one that solves the issue as it relates to Part V houses. Not everybody will want to avail of it and we will consider that aspect of the issue as well.

We need a tenant purchase scheme that works for everybody. The current scheme does not work for everybody and the generous discounts need to be examined as well, as we have to make sure we use taxpayers' money wisely. The social housing build programme had a budget of €2.4 billion and next year an additional 10,000 social houses will enter the system. This year it will be more than 8,000 and we want to get to the magic number of at least 10,000 per year. Beyond 2021, we have committed resources to build 12,000 social houses per year, which will also give us scope consider issues under the tenant purchase scheme.