Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I will not defend, condone or stand over developers, auctioneers or agents of any type who engage in this. Regulation of the property services sector, which is vested in the new property regulator services authority, as already outlined in the House in the last session by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, will license and regulate management agents, who are often the source of problems as regards service charges and accountability. We had this debate in the House in the autumn. Subject to checking, the heads of the Bill were passed before Christmas and the legislation has gone for drafting. Issues that relate to local authority planning conditions, estates being taken in charge etc. are covered in that legislation. Changes are to be made in company law to help avoid problems such as failure in any of these areas, including what the legislation was particularly meant to deal with, namely, management companies. It was also intended to include all the other areas. The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement has issued guidelines in the last few days as regards the governance of these types of companies which will help control the management of the companies. The report points to certain measures that should be taken as regards matters such as charges, dealing, agents, contracts and management company structures.

Perhaps the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement cannot do much about the legal end. However, to answer the Deputy's question, the heads of the property regulator services authority legislation have been drafted and are designed to deal with the point the Deputy has raised. There is also——

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