Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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507. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if she will consider an immediate tenant purchase scheme and with the proceeds make vacant local authority dwellings available to deal with the consistent rise in demand for local authority housing. [7930/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Government, on 17 December 2013, approved priority drafting of a Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill that will, among other things, underpin a new tenant purchase scheme for existing local authority houses along incremental purchase lines.  I expect that the Bill will be enacted this year, following which I will prescribe in regulations the commencement date and the detailed terms of the scheme.

I propose in the Bill to extend the application of section 13 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 to the new tenant purchase scheme. This provision will enable housing authorities, with my prior approval, to use sales receipts under the new scheme for housing and related purposes, including the refurbishment of existing housing.