Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have a professor earning €175,000 for a job that does not exist. We have a site in the middle of Limerick which was bought for €5 million over its valuation. It is not in use and there is no plan or finance for it, so it sits there like a white elephant. In Rhebogue, 3 km from the university, we have 20 houses that were bought for well in excess of double the market value of houses in the area. We could go on and on.

I would like to come back to one of the things that surprises me with regard to the Rhebogue houses. I find it hard to get my head around the fact that this happened after all of the problems with curtains, sheets and crazy ideas about buying a house here in Dublin, and after we went through everything with the Dunnes Stores transaction. You would say to yourself that procedures must now be put in place and people have to get their act together.

It sounds very complicated, and Deputy Ó Cathasaigh has outlined all of the various reports, but it is very straightforward to me. Of course, these reports had to be done but, as a layperson, I know that you check the stamp duty and the planning permission when buying or selling property. It is very basic. Any Joe or Mary Soap would know that, as would their solicitor. There is mention of deficient record-keeping, tax implications and the absence of a valuation. As I said the last day UL was in here, there is something I cannot get my head around as regards Rhebogue. If I was going to buy a house somewhere, I would go on Daft.ie or some other website or I would look in the windows of local auctioneers to see what houses were making in that area. We are buried in reports here. We accept that they were necessary but they work out as being expensive. These reports seek to find out why these basics were not adhered to. Mr. Kelly is the corporate secretary.