John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is an interesting point. I am sure that on the side of the Chief State Solicitor's office there is considerable intelligence about the law, how it can be applied, the implications of applying it, the responsibilities of Departments and so on. Surely if the office received a suggestion from a Department that a given lease should be for 60 years or 20 years without a break clause or a review of the rent, the office could make the case to that Department that it would not be smart, that the Department should build in protection, including at the least a break clause, and that the Department should question whether it is a full repairing lease. The point is that the State is not left exposed at the end of the day. We have discovered that the State is left exposed and it all relates to the quality of the lease agreed. Surely no Department should be allowed by the Chief State Solicitor's office or anyone else to agree a lease that ties the taxpayer into an unreasonable lease without a review. That has happened. We have seen it at this committee.