Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Clare Daly for her usual legal advice to me, to step in while court proceedings are going ahead. I cannot do this.

I say to Deputy Mick Wallace that trust has broken down between the State and the residents with regard to consumer protection. Professionals, developers and builders did not do the jobs they were trusted to do. I now have to intervene with new legislation to regulate developers and builders who should have done their jobs properly and followed the certification process we had in place. We can no longer trust professionals to sign off on things on a professional basis in the interests of consumers.

From his background, the Deputy will know that we did trust people and we can no longer do so. In the past when a clerk of works had to give a certificate of reasonable value for first-time buyers, people used to complain about the cumbersome nature of the approval and certification process. We now have to go back to look at these systems again.

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