Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

I appreciate that and I am not going to comment on the insolvency process happening at present, other than to say the State is now on the hook for €700,000 because Revenue is one of those creditors. There are tools the State can use to protect its own interests in this, such as the office of corporate enforcement, which can take a High Court challenge to a liquidator that has been selected. Revenue itself can do the same.

It is really unfortunate we have a situation that could well be replicated over and over again in the future. There are plenty of construction companies dealing with the inflating costs of building that could find themselves in difficulty. We need to make sure individuals who put deposits down have those deposits ring-fenced in some manner, maybe in an escrow for example, to prevent them losing that, but also that the contracts are fulfilled. Here is the key: two separate companies with the same directors and owners are using the corporate veil to separate their assets from their liabilities. We have seen it before in the likes of Clerys, Paris Bakery and other situations. We need a mechanism to ensure people are held responsible for what they owe people with these things.

See this speech in context