Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

Management companies in apartments must be regulated. However, this is only half a Bill because it is confined to apartments but the problem is also critical in housing estates. Since Deputy Catherine Murphy and I raised this matter last Autumn it has, thankfully, been opened up to public discussion. Management companies are being foisted on young people purchasing their first home. In turn, management fees are extorted from them, for what? Is it for public services, public open spaces, public lighting, public liability insurance? These are the services the developer will have to sustain before he hands over to the local authorities and then which the local authorities will provide. It is a huge scam by developers, saving themselves a fortune on the shoulders of those who made them a massive profit by purchasing houses in the first place. It is privatisation of local services done in an underhand and sneaking way by local authorities following on from the developers and is a new local tax on home owners.

Fine Gael must be clear on where it stands on this issue. I stand for the abolition of management fees in housing estates and a return to the maintenance of public services. However, the Government and its backbenchers comment on the situation as if they were not in power. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government says it is wrong and such charges should not be foisted on residents. He claims local authorities should take over the estates. He is the Minister. Why does he not issue an edict to the local authorities to stop planning conditions by councils and liquidate those companies that already exist where the residents want out?

In Castlecurragh estate we have a ridiculous situation where Fingal County Council built 700 social and affordable homes. Some 400 homeowners boycotted the estate management charge. The council then informed the residents that the management company is suspending services to the estate. Ridiculously the council is the management company's board of directors. I call on the Minister to contact Fingal County Council to resolve the matter at Castlecurragh.

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