Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I take the point on CPOs. I was on a council myself for 18 or 19 years. Unfortunately, the laws associated with CPOs for land and buildings are not as strong as they appear to be for the NRA. They need to be strengthened and it should be incumbent on this committee to seek professional legal advice in this regard. The Government has access to the Attorney General's office. I remember being on the council and producing a county development plan. The executive had expertise at its disposal but the members, whose views and opinions might have been contrary to that of the executive, did not have the relevant expertise available to them in order to include in the plan the sort of content which they aspired to include. That is a fault that we must rectify on this committee. We must analyse the CPO legislation and make firm and forceful recommendations that the Dáil can enact in an emergency situation in order to address the seriousness and immediacy of the problem.

We need the same powers as are available to the NRA to compulsorily purchase land and dwellings in order to provide pivotal infrastructure such as the NRA has provided in the way of transport and connectivity in recent years. I ask the Chairman and the committee to consider seeking professional legal advice on this issue, as well as the mortgage to rent issue. There was legislation on it in the last Dáil, but the bank veto remained in place and it was the opinion of the majority of the Opposition that it would put us in the position we are now in. It was relaxed towards the end of the last Dáil, but a court ruling meant the position was slow to change and we now see the result - a terrible calamity facing many people.

The committee, with the relevant expertise available to it, can make specific recommendations to amend the legislation governing the issue of mortgage to rent and to ensure the courts are given the capacity about which Fr. McVerry spoke to instruct a resolution. Delegates have testified before the committee on the bank veto and when it was called into question and the courts were asked to adjudicate on it, in eight out of 11 cases they found in favour of the debtor. This proves that the legislation in question was flawed. It could have been much better if there had been adequate scrutiny, debate and information and reasonable proposals had been allowed to be inserted into the legislation at the time. Given the current configuration of the Dáil, an open and frank debate can take place. Ultimately, the Dáil will instruct the Government to act accordingly, but the committee needs relevant professional legal advice to be available to it to make effective recommendations.