Shane McEntee (Meath, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2006, which I support. Ten years ago there were few, if any, apartment developments in County Meath, a position which has changed dramatically in the past five years. Major developments in Ashbourne, Bettystown and other towns in the county are a sight to behold and apartment developments now sit alongside traditional housing estates. County Meath has experienced extraordinarily rapid development with 3,886 new houses built in the county last year. Last year, the number of new housing units in the county was the fourth highest in the country after Dublin where 18,000 new houses were built.

The population of County Meath is projected to reach 180,000 or more by 2012. Every week, new families move into the county and other commuter counties around Dublin, with many moving into large apartment developments. These new communities face many challenges. Residents generally work a long distance from their new homes, child care and commuting are a nightmare and every day is a balancing act. It is unfair that, having committed themselves to large mortgage repayments, couples face the prospect of faceless management companies extracting from them sums that would have paid for a mortgage in the past for the privilege of managing the estate on which they live. These families, which are generally young, are caught in a pincer movement with little or no wriggle room if their family or employment circumstances change.

Apartment owners and dwellers are already feeling vulnerable. Those moving into large apartment developments reflect the new Ireland in that many of them are from new European Union member states in eastern Europe or other countries. They deserve proper protection from the State and the full protection of the law, as the Bill proposes to introduce. The code of practice proposed in the legislation is the appropriate way to proceed as it gives management companies and their agents an opportunity to get their houses in order. The Bill also proposes to widen the remit of the Private Residential Tenancies Board to include the regulation of apartment complex management companies and their agents and, in a further welcome development, the board would be given power to mediate in disputes.

In the past, the taking in charge of estates by county councils was a hot political potato. This approach has been partially replaced with proper management of apartment developments across the country. For this reason, this Bill sponsored by the Fine Gael Party is overdue and should be welcomed.

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