Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)

I also welcome the Bill on which the House has waited for the best part of 13 years. We needed a property services regulatory authority in recent decades. That this legislation has arrived in the dying days of the Government provides a poor commentary on how government operates. We also had to wait for more than a decade for the Multi-unit Developments Bill, the second element of the overall legislation on the property sector, with which the House has finally begun to deal.

I raised issues related to these matters with the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, on 60, 70 or 80 occasions. Deputies on this side were repeatedly informed that legislation was pending or being prepared. They went through a huge saga about the difficulties of preparing legislation on property management or sales because of the Constitution and that constitutional prohibitions made it nearly impossible to bring forward legislation. The reality was that the landlord, auctioneer and estate agent sector of the economy was heavily involved in the Fianna Fáil Party. It was a core element of Fianna Fáil as it evolved in the 1980s and 1990s and the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, had no intention of bringing in either legislative item on his watch. It is regrettable that Members have been obliged to wait for so long, that this has allowed a key element of the combustion that produced our current economic bankruptcy to take place and that the Government absolutely refused to bring forward necessary legislation. Now, the horse having bolted to some extent, the Government has come forward in its dying days with this key legislation.

In the period from the late 1990s until perhaps 18 months to two years ago, the Irish property market experienced a massive explosion in prices. Much of that explosion was ruthlessly driven by estate agents, auctioneers and landlords. They ruthlessly and without the slightest sense of decency or feeling for those who were homeless or who needed accommodation, sucked the marrow from the bone. They ruthlessly chased every euro that could be had. In my own constituency, the arrival of the Sherry FitzGerald auctioneering company suddenly led to an amazing explosion in, and doubling of, prices. The prices increased week after week by €5,000 or €10,000 and each time one read a property supplement, a new price increase was evident.

The Government of which the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, is a member simply stood there watching this happen and refused to take action. For example, it knew that gazumping was widespread and that some auctioneers were representing both the buyer and the seller against all principles of proper legal administration. The Government knew the building regulations had been abandoned to self-regulation. Consequently, young couples in particular who were forming households could not get key information on the structures for which they were paying perhaps €300,000 to €500,000 and on which they took out crucifying and back-breaking mortgages of €300,000 to €400,000, which they would be obliged to try to pay back. The Government allowed all this to take place over those years in a most disgraceful fashion. Finally, now that the market has collapsed and even some auctioneering and estate agent companies have gone out of business, the Government is introducing what I agree is a commendable property regulatory authority.

In addition, a huge role was played in this disaster by the national newspapers and in particular by the Independent group and The Irish Times. Each Thursday and Friday witnessed the astonishing sight of these two national newspapers producing a property supplement that was bigger than the actual newspaper itself. This was taken for granted each Thursday and Friday week after week and month after month. Moreover, these so-called property supplements contained articles that presumably were written by workers who regarded themselves as journalists. However, they were incredible puff pieces and peaens of praise to estates built in the middle of nowhere or with no services or with no public transport. This took place week after week. Approximately one year ago, I asked Professor John Horgan whether he would investigate the role of the aforementioned two national newspapers in particular in fanning the flames of the gazumping and the disaster in the auctioneering profession. He of course replied that this was not a matter for the Press Ombudsman as it was not part of its remit to investigate such matters and that it could not be done. I note Members are being lectured on a daily basis by journalists, who worked for those two organisations, about the economy and on how the country will get through the next year.

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