Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I am not persuaded by the substance of the Minister's argument. The Law Reform Commission examined this issue against some knowledge and visits to some of the messes left by developers and came up with a similar proposal to my amendment.

People claim there are cases where it does not matter who is in the ministerial hot seat. In this case, it does. While a different incumbent in this Department may not perform as well in certain areas as this Minister has, in many respects he or she would still have gone for the Law Reform Commission solution on this matter. It might not be so easy to dismiss the Law Reform Commission proposal, however.

A bond is not unknown in the building industry. There are bonds in it and many others such as the airline industry. A great opportunity to deal with this issue has been missed, however, and I do not find the Minister's arguments persuasive.

Amendment put and declared lost.

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