asked the Minister for the Environment when arrangements will be devised to facilitate tenant purchase of local authority flats.

I intend to initiate discussions shortly with those authorities having significant numbers of flats in their housing stock with a view to devising workable arrangements for the sale of flats to tenants.

Could I ask the Minister if in those arrangements the flats will be properly repaired prior to their disposal and if the recent announcement that repairs would not be carried out in future by local authorities will not be implemented in cases such as this?

Infrastructural repairs will be done before they are sold to the tenants.

Could the Minister state when these arrangements will be made?

I have told the Deputy that we are working on them as quickly as possible. A great deal is happening in the Department at the moment.