A Sinn Féin councillor in Co Wexford has claimed tenants purchasing homes from local authorities around the country could possibly have lost out on discounts worth millions of euro as a result of incorrect application of the rules of the scheme.
Cllr John Dwyer has called for an investigation into the system under which discounts are provided to tenants purchasing their homes under the Tenant Purchase Scheme.
This follows a case in Co Wexford in which the local authority agreed to provide over €2,300 in additional discounts to a woman following a complaint made to the Ombudsman.
However, a spokesman for the Department of the Environment said last night that the Minister, Dick Roche, had no evidence to suggest that local authorities were not implementing the scheme in accordance with legislation. The spokesman said it was not considered that the Wexford case would have knock-on implications.
Under Department of the Environment regulations, tenants purchasing their homes from local authorities under the scheme can avail of discounts of 3 per cent of the current market price for each reckonable year of tenancy, subject to a maximum discount of 30 per cent plus €3,000.
However, Co Wexford woman Anne Marie Mullins maintained that she had not been offered the full level of discount to which she was entitled on purchasing her home under the scheme.
She said this was as a result of the way in which Wexford County Council had calculated her period of tenancy.
She argued that the local authority had calculated the discount on the basis of a tenancy ending at the point when she accepted a letter of offer rather than the date of the completion of sale.
She maintained the difference between these dates would have entitled her to an additional discount.
Ms Mullins, from Ballycullane, was allocated a property by Wexford County Council - and began paying rent - in mid-October 2001.
She accepted an offer to purchase the house on July 19th, 2005, and the transfer order was signed in February of this year. The deal was completed - under the Tenant Purchase Scheme - on March 8th.
Cllr Dwyer said there was "a very real possibility that a vast number of people might be entitled to further discounts arising out of this matter".
"When one considers that many local authorities throughout the country also carry out their procedures in a manner similar to Wexford County Council, the knock-on effect nationwide could be astronomical in terms of money owed.
"This could potentially run into millions of euro owed across the country," he said.
The Department of the Environment said last night: "The terms of the current scheme, as outlined in a circular, provide that the tenancy discount may continue to accrue up to the date of the making of the transfer order."
