Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

As Deputy Joe Higgins knows, legislation in any area cannot be applied retrospectively and it would be wrong to give any comfort to people knowing that to be the case. In many areas, management companies which were originally set up to take care of and maintain complexes and to look after environmental issues, such as landscaping, cleaning, painting and so on, have extended their services to include those which in any other estate, whether in a public, private, corporation or council area, would normally be free. They have designed contracts to place total liability on tenants who, particularly some years ago when there was a supply and demand issue, signed these contracts. Tenants now find the costs are excessive and that they are arbitrarily increased annually. This places a huge burden on people. It is a fairly new phenomenon and it did not happen in the past. The Minister has stated he is examining the issue but it cannot be dealt with retrospectively.

See this speech in context