Residency clauses in housing sales
Deputy Moynihan said departmental regulations and residency clauses were preventing local authority houses from being sold to families who wanted them. The Taoiseach said he was not familiar with the detail, would inform the Housing Minister, and would seek a written reply.
There are many reports on housing, many mentions of housing in A Programme for a Partnership Government and we have had numerous debates on Rebuilding Ireland etc. There are, however, regulations in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government impacting on decisions being made at local authority level. That is particularly the case with residency clauses. Houses built during the boom have residency clauses. Those houses are now coming up for sale and cannot be sold to the families looking for them. The local authorities cite the regulations made by the Department as preventing these houses being sold on to families that badly need them. The Taoiseach should look at the Department. He should make sure that any regulations or bureaucratic frustrations in the Department that are stopping houses being moved on to genuine people who need them should be obliterated. It should be made certain that there is a free flow of these houses.
