James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his detailed response. He addressed most of the points I raised. If he does not have time to respond further, he might take the following point away as a consideration. Management companies will play a central role in this, which is set out in the draft legislation and the scheme. There are still several legacy issues with management companies around the country. Some have been convened and some have been incorporated. Some operate well and some, unfortunately, operate in a dysfunctional manner. I saw the situation of an apartment owner in my constituency who had to evacuate the apartment for a couple of years while remediation was being carried out. They sought to charge the individual management fees for the privilege of renting accommodation elsewhere while his apartment was vacant because they had constructed it incorrectly. Therefore, several issue have arisen.

Multi-unit developments legislation was brought in around 2014 and is probably due for update. I am not sure if there are plans for management company legislation in terms of tidying up the whole sphere of how management companies operate, how they are convened and how they are accountable, because they will play a central role in this scheme going forward. Perhaps there is an opportunity to look at that space and tidy things up. There are a lot of legacy issues there.

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