Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this rushed legislation. Fine Gael is fed up with the Government's attitude to doing business. On the one hand, its attitude to the nation's infrastructure reflects paralysis and tardiness, as a result of which airports take decades to build, motorways take years and stadiums do not get built at all. On the other hand, a flurry of emergency legislation continually passes through the Chamber and barely a week goes by without an amendment to the Dáil schedule. There is always a crisis. We recently dealt with the aftermath of the Minister's incompetence and neglect of his duties on nursing home charges, about which the Supreme Court sent the Government packing. It does nobody a service to govern or legislate this way. The House is an instrument of scrutiny and its function is to hold the Executive to account and not to rubber-stamp the Executive's demands, pat it on the head and say, "There, there".

The Bill will be passed but it will not be taken in the manner it should following appropriate scrutiny, reflection and debate. However, I thank the Minister and his officials for their briefing earlier and I fully accept the legislation is urgently needed. The Bill covers IDA Ireland, Údarás na Gaeltachta and Shannon Development. The latter is a powerhouse of job creation in my constituency and in the mid-west generally. Shannon Development is a fine agency. It created more than 1,521 jobs in 2004 bringing total employment in the firms with which it deals to 20,000. The companies had a collective turnover of €4.4 billion last year, of which €3 billion comprised exports. It is a good agency and I will support legislation that protects it. The agency does excellent work on research and development projects, the Atlantic technology corridor, the digital media cluster, the western regional tourism initiative and so on, which I welcome.

I am at a loss to know what has happened in recent days to necessitate the Bill's immediate passage. The Minister stated why the legislation must be passed today but we would have liked more time. In December 1981 the IDA granted a lease of a unit to a client company, which built an industrial premises, as was its right. The company subsequently passed on its interest to another company, which, in turn, passed it on to another in 2004. The three companies were linked. However, subsequently, a notice of intention to acquire a fee simple or freehold was served on the IDA. It beggars belief that the law permitted this to happen. It is amazing that a company can pay €7 million for a property, subject to restricted use, a rent review and long lease, and can then set up a puppet company to circumvent the law. The company attempted to rob the State, even though it did so in a legitimate fashion, and its owners should be completely and utterly ashamed of themselves. I can imagine their lawyers were rubbing their hands with glee when they noticed the flaw in the legislation, which allowed them to seize land designated for the promotion of enterprise and industry and do as they wished with it. The company is based in Clonshaugh industrial park and it has taken all of us for a ride. In addition, the legislation cannot be made retrospective because an out of court settlement was made and, therefore, the company has got away with it.

The legislation is designed to prevent this and similar companies from legally but immorally stripping the State of its assets. I challenge the company owners, which, despite Dáil privilege, I will not name, though it does not deserve an ounce of kindness from the institutions of the State, to publicly state how it can justify their actions. How can they honestly say they did a good day's work? How do they sleep at night? It is fair enough that the law was on their side. What moral compass do they use in their everyday lives that allows them to exploit this legislative flaw?

The company acquired the land from IDA Ireland in 1981. At that time, the country was on its knees. Inflation was averaging 20%, unemployment was creeping up to 20%, tax rates were high, emigration was part of everyday life and our debt to gross domestic product ratio was 100%. The economic situation was so bleak that it seemed that the future of the State itself was in doubt. The prospects for our economic improvement were not helped by the bombing campaigns of the IRA and the UVF in Northern Ireland. Against this background, the company in question sought assistance from the IDA. The IDA went to a very bare cupboard and gave the company assistance to make investment attractive.

Now, when the Celtic Tiger is roaring and we have low tax rates, low inflation, higher employment and net inward migration, this company sees an opportunity to make a quick buck and attempts to take it. The motivation is unclear. Perhaps it hopes the land will be zoned as residential land and believes that a few more apartment blocks would not hurt anybody. It may hurt our industrial infrastructure to have apartments located in an industrial park, but the company does not care about this. Maybe the value of the site, zoned industrial, was a major attraction or perhaps this is a test case, with IDA Ireland the potential loser of millions of euro.

In this context, Fine Gael will act appropriately in a patriotic manner and support the Bill. The way business is conducted can be nasty, without a doubt. Despite my criticisms of the rushing of this legislation, I accept that it is a response to the instincts of some in business. I will not table any amendments to the Bill on Committee or Report Stage as I am aware that the Minister is anxious that the Bill be signed by the President before she leaves on a State visit.

My party is willing to trust the Minister and the Government on this legislation and I hope that trust is well placed. I also hope that this Bill covers other areas of concern, for example, industrial land owned by local authorities and semi-State bodies. Can the Minister clarify if such lands are also protected under this legislation? I will not delay any further because I know that the Minister wants this Bill to be given a speedy passage through the House. Fine Gael will support his efforts in this instance, but I hope that we will not be presented with rushed legislation on a weekly basis.

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