Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

These two amendments are very important. I generally welcome them.

The matter in amendment No. 76 is a massive problem in any area that has seen development in the last ten years and before that. It was a problem when I was a councillor in the early 2000s, when so much development was taking place. Even though developers were making substantial profits, they were still flying from area to area, leaving work undone and doing defective work. I could catalogue many instances but will not do so here. I want to raise some questions about the changes that the Minister is making and whether they are enough.

On the first change, I welcome that the wording "not later than 6 months" is there. That is fine, but is four years still not far too long to give somebody to comply with what that person knew would be the conditions to comply with before undertaking the development? Seven years was obviously far too long, but it still seems to me that four years is giving too much leeway, considering someone might be living in an area for four years which has had defective work done. I do not know if the Minister is planning to amend this elsewhere, but the problem with the bonds is that they were far too low to be any kind of disincentive to a developer. Some of the bonds used to be in the region of €200,000. They were simply a joke. They were not a deterrent to any developer. Developers could lodge the bond and then go off and do whatever they wanted to. That is probably separate legislation, but is the Minister going to consider anything like that?

That was certainly the big problem we found in Fingal when so much development was taking place.

I welcome the intention to pursue developers for costs because we cannot expect local authorities to pick up the tab for what developers are meant to do. Another separate issue which I do not suggest the Minister can address at this time relates to developers setting up management companies. Most housing estates are multi-unit developments comprising apartments, duplexes and houses. By setting up such management companies they make residents pay for maintenance. That is an ongoing problem, especially in west Dublin, and it requires separate legislation.