Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Minister of State would have us believe he carried the hod for all of them. He almost ended up taking credit and clapping himself on the back for the number of unfinished housing estates. I hope that does not signal reluctance to have the Bill dealt with on Committee Stage.

It always interests me that the issue of the constitutional right to property is advanced when the right to property is that of property developers and land speculators. It never seems to get the same airing when we speak about the constitutional right to property of people who pay large sums of money to buy homes. The people who pay for houses in an estate pay to have that estate finished, and their constitutional rights to the property for which they have paid and to the completion of the housing estate which, by extension, is also part of their common property must be vindicated. I doubt very much if the framers of the Constitution had in mind the kind of two-tier view of property rights that seems to be implied in that type of approach. Section 3 of this Bill, which would give to householders legal rights and which would impose duties on developers, emphasises and gives effect to the constitutional right of home owners to the property they buy and the property rights they acquire as a result of the sums of money they pay to purchase their homes.

I am anxious that the Bill is dealt with in committee as soon as possible. The Labour Party has had a few bad experiences with Private Members' Bills which were accepted on Second Stage. A few years ago, I introduced a Bill on electoral matters which was accepted on Second Stage but I could not get it into committee. The Whistleblowers Protection Bill, introduced by my colleague, the Labour Party leader, was accepted on Second Stage but it has still not been taken in committee. I am encouraged by the commitment the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government gave yesterday to have the Bill referred to a committee as soon as possible. I thank the House for its agreement to the provisions of the Bill.

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