Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In relation to this specific Government? Well, at that time, and I should have said this to Deputy Doherty, there was a very strong set of legal opinion, and we were given to understand right up to the Attorneys General, and, in fact, you will recall even on the old Dublin County Council, of which you and I were members, Deputy, that the advice was that, if this approach were followed, that it could result in very significant compensation claims. And, if you like, that had a chilling effect on the support for such legislation, so the Labour Party put it forward but it didn't get any widespread support. What Fianna Fáil did - well, I think it was led by Fianna Fáil but they were in coalition Governments at the time - was, later, they introduced the part V where developers would have to make certain contributions in relation to the supply of social housing, or make contributions, but I have to say, Deputy, that never worked particularly well either. So, there has been a continuous debate around both the desirability, which I would think is highly desirable in order to prevent the build-up of bubbles, and the legal opinion that such a development would give rise to significant compensation costs-----