Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)

A similar motion on the regulation and control of management companies was tabled by the Labour Party in November 2005. It was debated and defeated by the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government. The Government's 2005 amendment, which was passed, was almost identical to the one tabled today. At that time, we had the full support of the Green Party. Now, however, the leader of that party, having been assumed body and soul into the Fianna Fáil Party and its ethos on the building industry, is shamelessly supporting a carbon copy of the amendment he opposed so strongly before he joined Fianna Fáil in all but name.

Since that Labour Party motion was debated some two and a half years ago, no promised legislation, instructions or guidelines have seen the light of day. Government Ministers have been sitting on their hands regarding this issue because Fianna Fáil, the Progressive Democrats and the Greens, who accept everything, do not want to upset their friends in the building industry. They never upset their paymasters who have made a fat killing on the backs of young families to whom they sold houses at inflated prices. Their greed knows no bounds and the magic management companies provided the icing on the cake for them.

However, the rot did not start in 2005 at the time of the Labour Party's motion, but with the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Planning and Development Act 2000. That legislation enabled county managers to impose a planning condition that a management company be established and that it be registered as a lien on the title of each property. That literally gave developers a blank cheque that they drew down from the accounts of young families struggling with already massive mortgage repayments. Management companies sprang up like mushrooms not just for apartment blocks or mixed housing estates, but also for standard housing. They did so without regulation or control. They became a new milch cow for already fat cat developers. Without regulation or control, they could force householders to pick up the tab for services that were clearly the developer's legal responsibility.

In my constituency, some 4,000 housing units are now covered by management companies. They are paid on average €1,200 per year, effectively to the developer. The vast majority of these, some 3,200, are standard houses with absolutely no need for a management company. The only benefit they gain from this developer's bonanza is that the grass is cut, but they are also picking up the tab for the ongoing liability of the developer for water, sewerage, roads, paths, lights and open space. In my constituency alone, I calculate that homeowners and tenants are paying some €4.6 million per year into the already well-lined pockets of developers. These families live in houses in Kill, Celbridge, Leixlip, Maynooth, Sallins, Kilcock and Straffan.

The Labour Party demands that action be taken to end this rip off of young families. Where management systems are required in apartment blocks, they should be controlled by legally binding regulations. They should also be organised on a co-operative basis. In all cases affecting standard houses, these rip-off companies should be abolished and clear title restored to the home owners concerned.

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