Results 3,921-3,940 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Seanad: Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: -----by their solicitors so that, having made the biggest purchase of their lives, they are fully aware of their entitlements but more often they are not. While the State can spoonfeed people, as it does when it passes legislation, there would have to be some onus on advisers to give as much information as possible. There is no doubt that in the past 20 years, estates and apartment blocks...

Seanad: Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Senator Norris referred to sections 3 and 4 which deal with the issue of incompletion and the obligation to transfer ownership on completion, and, to a lesser extent, section 14, which deals with the apportionment of service charges. I empathise with the points he has made. These amendments deal with the extension of the remit of this legislation to mixed-use developments, which contain...

Seanad: Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: This is a technical amendment which inserts the word "lease" into the definition of transfer of ownership. Deeds of transfer, conveyance and assignment are already included.

Seanad: Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: We considered this but we believe section 2(2)() already caters for this. It is already clear that the section applies to any person who is the owner of common areas in a multi-unit development, which would in most cases mean the developer.

Seanad: Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I do not consider it appropriate to make such provision in this section. I can understand the concerns behind the amendment and I will consider whether it would be possible to include a requirement along these lines in another section before Report Stage.

Seanad: Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: This is a technical amendment that deletes the word "entire". In some developments, one person or company may not own all of the common areas of a development.

Seanad: Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Is this being taken with any other amendment?

Seanad: Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: This relates to the 5% of the purchase price being withheld. This was considered by an interdepartmental group which was set up to look at the Law Reform Commission recommendations. At the time the group sat - it is some time ago - it came to the conclusion that a developer might react by simply increasing the sales price by 5% and it would prove completely ineffective in securing...

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: He is still reading that book, by the way.

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Sure Gerry cannot count.

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I wish to share time with the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Billy Kelleher.

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: On a procedural point, I only received a copy of the Bill at noon yesterday. In the context of fairly significant legal issues, it would be important that, in future, Bills be made available as expeditiously as possible. I did not know about this being-----

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The Bill was not available to my Department until yesterday at noon. The first I knew this was being taken was when I read in The Sunday Business-----

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: As we debate this evening, businesses are hurting, people are being laid off and 432,000 of our friends, neighbours and families have no jobs. That is 432,000 reasons why we, as legislators, need to be here, breaking our backs to find real workable and practical solutions which lead to real jobs and real prosperity. To do that, we have a duty to be honest and to acknowledge what we can do...

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: When I address the legal considerations, I will then deal with the practical side of the equation. At the core of the Bill is an attempt to impose a substantial restriction on private property rights, since one of its key objectives is to effect a change in the amount of rent which has been agreed as a result of a contractual arrangement which has been freely entered into by the relevant...

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The statutory alteration in a contractual term which the Bill would bring about is capable of having significant discriminatory effects. If constitutional principles are to be satisfied, the intervention proposed must be necessary and proportionate. Any legislation which fails to satisfy this test runs the risk of amounting to an unjust interference in property rights. In this regard, and...

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The complexity of the financial arrangements which sometimes underpin commercial lease arrangements is completely ignored, as are the obligations which are taken on foot of them. Furthermore, in purporting to treat all tenants equally by giving them the benefit of the Bill's provisions, there is a risk that some will be given a benefit which they do not need and that some landlords may...

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: At first sight, it is also possible that the envisaged restriction on property rights would be disproportionate to the social good apparently sought to be achieved. In essence, what the Bill seeks to bring about is a downward adjustment in rents across the board. It is difficult to conceive how this would be possible to implement in a constitutional manner. It can be guaranteed that if...

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: -----to intervene in private contractual arrangements.

Land and Land Conveyancing Law Reform (Review of Rent in Certain Cases)(Amendment) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The proposals before us are not new, rather they are a repackaged version of a Bill introduced by the Labour Party last year which was acknowledged by Government and by Fine Gael as being legally flawed. When discussing my proposal to ban upward-only rent reviews and the Labour Party proposals, the Fine Gael spokesperson for justice, equality and law reform, acknowledged that he was "not sure...