Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I am not sure that Fine Gael is fully behind its proposal to make the Private Residential Tenancies Board responsible for regulating managing agents. It was not set up for that purpose. While the proposed Bill contains some interesting points, it would not deal with a range of issues that give rise to problems with apartment complex management.

It is right to focus on managing agents because they seem to be a major source of difficulty and the source of many of the complaints we hear, especially in respect of levels of fees, quality of service and accountability. This Private Member's Bill addresses almost exclusively the regulation of property management agencies, which is only one strand of the complex issue.

I welcome the announcement last year of the new national property services regulatory authority to regulate these operations. This authority, established by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on foot of the report from the auctioneering and estate agency review group will have the function of licensing, regulating and dealing with complaints about property management service providers or agents. A serious gap in the Bill is its failure to deal with several of the problems that need to be addressed, particularly those connected with conveyancing and company law.

It has been claimed in the debate that nothing has been done since the motion before Christmas, which is unfair because a great deal of work is taking place. Such hollow cheap shots have no basis in fact. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is drawing up legislation to establish the national property services regulatory authority and provide for its regulatory regime, including the regulation of managing agents.

My Department has put a great deal of effort into providing detailed and comprehensive input into the Law Reform Commission's study. Negative comments from Deputy McCormack and others to the effect that we should not wait for the Law Reform Commission seem rather stupid. It is important on a matter that is new to all of us, and to society, to have a wide-ranging consultation process. That is the best way to ensure that the different views on this matter are clarified and addressed. If the Department simply put forward its own views, the Opposition would criticise it for not giving other people the opportunity to put their points of view.

In taking the rare step of proposing a deferral on this Second Stage rather than voting it down, the Government acknowledges that the Bill appears to be well intentioned and has some merit, even if its approach is flawed. We are signalling our commitment to ensuring that effective action is taken on the different aspects of this matter.

The Law Reform Commission report is due in the summer. Many of us know some of the actions that need to be undertaken after that but we want to engage in the public consultation process and move forward on an agreed basis. Legislation will then be introduced but it will be more wide-ranging than the Bill before us. This Bill gives us the opportunity to debate the issue but it is very narrow and does not strike at many of the real problems in this issue.

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