This gives rise to serious anomalies. For instance, tenants waiting for a decision on the sale of their houses continue paying their rents. I know people who have been waiting two-and-a-half and three years. They are still paying rent which should be considered as repayments on the price of their houses. As a member of Dublin Corporation I raised this matter and asked that these rents should be treated as repayments if they continued for longer than six months, but the local authority said they did not have the power to do that. Would the Minister consider giving them this power?

I will have that matter looked into. When I came into the Department I made an order that 40 per cent of the proceeds of the sale of houses should supplement the authority's revenue. This revenue can be used to carry out the necessary repairs on houses. I did not get any letters about delays of this nature but I will look into it and will also consider inserting a time limit.

I will give the Minister the relevant information.