In 2003, a year after the nationwide scheme was launched in Fingal, six people sold or remortgaged their house, which they had bought from the council at a special discount of up to 30% off the market price.

But the numbers selling up have mushroomed since: last year 60 householders quit the scheme, which is designed to help low-income individuals get their feet on the property ladder.

In the same period, Fingal, which has been most active of all the local authorities in promoting the affordable housing scheme, sold a total of 979 houses. With 124 in total having quit the scheme in the four years, it means that around one in eight houses handed over by the council to lucky applicants is now being sold or remortaged.

The figures come in the week in which Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Noel Ahern, outlined plans to spend Euro18bn on housing over the next seven years, including the sale of 40,000 affordable homes.

Under Ahern's scheme, an individual earning Euro40,000 or less or a couple with a combined income of Euro100,000 or less can apply for an affordable house, which is then sold at a discount of 20% to 30%. The council lends the applicant 97% of this discounted price of the affordable house. If the house or apartment is sold within 10 years of being purchased then the council is entitled to claw back that discount on the sale price.

For example, if an apartment valued at Euro200,000 is sold to an applicant under the affordable housing scheme for Euro160,000, or a discount of 20%, and that house is then sold within ten years for Euro300,000, the council can claim Euro60,000 back - 20% of Euro300,000. This reduces by 10% every year over the following 10 years, so there is no clawback after 20 years.

Of the 124 householders who have quit the scheme, around 40 have remortgaged with a commercial lender. Remortgaging as opposed to selling maximises the potential gain for the householder in that, once the property has been remortgaged and the clawback paid to the council, the householder will benefit in full from any subsequent rise in the value of the house. House prices have risen by an average 15% a year in the past 10 years.