Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That does not give me the legal cover to do what the Deputy asked me to do. I have to get my advice from the Attorney General. There are cases before the Supreme Court and home owners are also taking cases. We have to await the outcome of those cases, which the Deputy, as a legislator, should know. However, I am prepared to re-examine this matter once we know the outcome of those cases. I had informed the construction and quarrying sectors quite explicitly all along that there would be a levy on those industries but, regrettably, because of cases in the courts and the legal advice I have been given by the Attorney General I could not proceed with that without risking home owners having to wait three or four more years for remediation because of the current backlog in the court system. I was not prepared to allow that to happen and I asked the Government about this and, despite the difficult financial situation, it agreed with my analysis that we would provide Exchequer funding for this and try to clawback some money from the industry in the future if we could. I thought that was quite a generous outcome and I am surprised at Deputy Broughan's negativity about this matter. In a difficult situation, financially, I am putting the people first.

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