Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I meant a very prominent member of the Deputy's organisation in County Kildare who would remember saying that to me. I raise that to explain what happened then, something that very few can remember. The price of all property dived overnight for no reason. There were various worldwide fears of oil shortages connected with Iran, and the gentleman said that the value of his property had gone down by IR£1 million in one year. He counted himself lucky to have survived to tell the tale.

We must consider what will happen if we continue as at present. I mention that in the context of this legislation, not because I wish to have a swipe at someone but simply because we must realise that, in theory, if one wishes to consider institutional care for someone in the greater Dublin area, he or she has no chance at all if one applies the principle that the person must sell his or her house, and that house is worth €1 million to €5 million. Unfortunately, the reality is that they will not get anything and may as well sell now.

The sad part is that many of those people struggled through the 1970s and 1980s, and in the 1990s just about managed to free themselves of debt in the face of very high interest rates. Ultimately, all that we can offer them is an apology that, now that they have lived their lives, struggled, worked hard, and earned their money by the sweat of their brow and paid taxes, we must take from them their houses, which in reality were only lent to them for a short time. I do not believe in that philosophy. The State, particularly when it boasts of less intrusion, should practise that itself.

I thought that all the repayments would have been made by now. I am not sure that it was such a great administrative problem. All the records are readily available, and it should not have been necessary to go through so many legal loopholes and wrangles to make the repayments. It should have been possible to work out a simple resolution whereby people were repaid whatever they were entitled to.

It would do no harm to remember that in certain situations some will appear to be better repaid than others. We all know that this will ultimately emerge. In those situations, I hope it will not be necessary to go to court to resolve problems, if anyone fails to receive what is a right or entitlement. We would be far better off if attempts were made to resolve the issue without costing the State any more and hope that lessons that should have been learnt over the past 25 years will stand it in good stead and that we will not repeat the mistakes.

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