Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Minister is correct in that we sought expert legal opinion in working on our Bill and my colleague, Deputy Ciarán Lynch, set that out when he introduced it. We received further legal advice to the effect that the measures taken by the Minister, which only relate to the future, will have no impact on the economic crisis I am talking about in the retail sector currently, where 30,000 jobs have been lost and the normal rules of supply and demand do not operate.

For example, when a code emerges - if it does - from the working group, will it be mandatory or voluntary? When the Minister said he was sending a signal and some developers who owned premises have responded, it does not concur with the feedback I have. He said that did not necessarily apply to the heart of Dublin and it does not, to the best of my information. Our concern in this issue is one of employment, as there are retailers of long standing being put out of business because of the inability to negotiate market rents in line with present circumstances due to the upward only rent review provisions that the Minister is seeking to protect. He is appealing to the constitutional provisions of private property in order to hide behind the skirts of the Constitution so as to not intervene, effectively, to preserve employment.

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