Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

This is an extremely important Bill from a business point of view. There is a high volume of property transactions with unacceptable delays in solicitor's offices and generally in the transfer of property, which hamper business. If there is not some degree of compulsion in the Bill it will go the same way as many other Bills from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. That is, it will be passed and shelved, and no resources or determination will be put into implementing its provisions.

This is the first time for many years a Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has attempted to take on this issue, in a small way, but Fianna Fáil has been in power for 18 of the past 20 years and the Minister's party has been in power for ten years. It is time to start doing something rather than talking about it.

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