Thank you a Cheann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this issue. It is common case among all Deputies that the vast majority of people on this island wish to own their homes. That is borne out in the home ownership figures which are the highest in Europe, if not in the world. That is why this Parliament has always been a great supporter of the tenant purchase scheme.
Tenant purchase schemes have allowed people in local authority housing to buy out their homes. In recent times a number of schemes were introduced. A famous scheme introduced in 1988, commonly known as the "sale of the century", was an extremely successful one. While it may not have gone down well with local authorities, there was a huge take-up of the scheme. The most recent scheme introduced some time ago has been unsuccessful. That will be borne out by the experiences of most Deputies. Just because there was a change of Government, and I am raising this matter here, does not mean I have not always been of this view. My objections to the way in which this scheme was set up will be on the Minister's file. The figures will show that the take-up of the scheme generally and by people on low incomes is extremely small. To my knowledge few, if any, social welfare recipients in my county are participating, would or are allowed to participate in this scheme. Local authorities are very reluctant to allow such people to participate in this scheme. People who applied under previous schemes were in a position to obtain finance through their local authorities but under this scheme applicants are advised to approach a bank or a building society to secure the necessary finance in a lump sum rather than on an annuity basis as was the case heretofore. That causes severe problems for those in receipt of social welfare benefit.
A family in my constituency who are all in receipt of social welfare benefit raised this matter with me. They have endeavoured through various channels to have the scheme changed. The Minister of State, Deputy McManus, having been involved with the travelling community, will appreciate the concerns of the family in question as they are former travellers who have been living in a local authority house for the last 27 years and are paying a rent in the region of £30 to £35 per week. They want to buy the house and have been offered it for £14,000, but they cannot secure the necessary finance from a bank or building society and their local authority cannot help them. Such people should be targeted because the present position is unfair. Surely it would be far better if people who pay £30 to £35 per week for a rented house and who have put money into improving their house over the years were facilitated in purchasing their houses. However, they cannot call their house their own and will never be able to do so because the banks or the building societies will not lend them what, in effect, is a small amount of money to purchase their house. This family is one of a number of families in this bind who, for one reason or another, did not take up the sale of the century perhaps because some of them were unable to read or write and were unsure of the financial implications.
If the Minister is to make a name for herself, she should examine this scheme. I know it is an open ended scheme, but some effort could be made to change it. The excuse I was given when I raised the matter previously was that the scheme was only new and it should be given time to develop. It is high time the scheme was changed to enable people, such as those I instanced, to avail of the tenant purchase scheme to buy their houses so that the income going into the house would in effect be put into the bricks and mortar of the house rather than into the coffers of a local authority.
