Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I tried to raise this issue on section 35 but the Minister of State and the Cathaoirleach pointed out I was on the wrong section. I have come across tenants who found it difficult to sell their local authority home. In the past ten years, the value of such houses has greatly increased and, for one reason or another, the circumstances of the tenants may have changed and they wanted to sell their homes and move on. In some cases, they found it difficult to obtain permission from the local authority to sell the house even where they have been tenants for the previous 20 or 30 years. Will the Minister of State clarify whether the legislation provides only for the sale of such houses to people on local authority housing waiting lists or whether the house can be sold to anybody? There is ambiguity about who can sell the house and to whom the house can be sold among local authorities.

Senator Coffey made a good point regarding the purchase of houses under the shared ownership scheme. The value of houses has reduced considerably. Has the value of houses provided under this scheme reduced accordingly? If an individual is buying a shared ownership house from the local authority, will market value determine its price?