Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I wish to share my time with Deputies Joe Higgins, James Breen, Connolly, Cuffe and Ferris.

While this Bill deals exclusively with apartments, clearly there is also a problem with traditional housing developments. It appears that the Minister is not calling the shots on this issue. The County and City Managers' Association is calling the shots and we should be clear about that. We need to ask where this policy stemmed from because it is easy to figure out who the beneficiaries are.

When I raised the matter in September, I provided the Minister with background documentation detailing what was happening. I had telephoned six or seven local authorities to determine if the problem is widespread and I believe it is. I did that to prove a problem existed. We have a right to know the policies of the various local authorities on this matter. The Minister has that information because he wrote to the local authorities in that regard and he must publish the results so that we can see who is making the running on this matter.

Last week the "Gerry Ryan Show" covered the topic and I was contacted by the programme researchers for some background information. I was told a spokesperson for Fingal County Council said the council introduced the policy relating to management companies because it could not afford to take housing estates in charge.

I was in the public gallery last week when the Kildare County Manager put down a marker about taking on maintenance obligations for a large number of additional estates, with significant deficiencies in some. He said it will cost dearly and hard decisions will have to be made. There is no need to read between the lines. Local authorities are taking the Minister on with regard to this issue. They are side-stepping their responsibilities, despite the fact that the Minister said he would not allow that to happen. Resources are an issue, particularly in areas that are developing rapidly and councils are at breaking point. The Government cannot continue to ignore that.

I am also appalled by the advice given by some solicitors to prospective buyers. I sent the Minister a copy of a letter that a solicitor sent to a client who was buying a house and who was paying him for his services. That letter was simply a pack of lies.

Deputy Joe Higgins and I hosted a public meeting about management companies last Saturday. We heard first hand from the attendants of pending court actions about fees ranging up to €3,000 per annum and so forth. We know about the scams with apartments where the developer holds on to the last unit or creates more shares in the company than there are units. This has been going on for too long.

While I accept this Bill is deficient, it is the only legislation before us at the moment. Action should be taken immediately. The Minister should meet the City and County Managers' Association, the Law Society, the Office of Corporate Enforcement and the Construction Industry Federation. They are all part of the problem and could be part of the solution. The more complicated scams are, and these scams are complicated, the easier it is to get away with them and real people are paying the price.

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