Seanad debates

Wednesday, 28 May 2003

Auctioneering Profession: Motion.

 

We live in a democracy. People have a constitutional right to own property and they also obviously have a right to sell property to whomever they like and at whatever price they decide. That does not necessarily mean – this is where some of the confusion arises – that we have to sell to the highest bidder. There are many reasons somebody might decide not to sell to the highest bidder, one of which might be a concern on the vendor's part about the purchaser's capacity to pay for the property. For example, the perspective purchaser may have to dispose of another asset or property in advance of buying the property in question. If I was the vendor in a situation like that, I would prefer to deal with the person whose bid might have been a little lower but who would be in a position to pay immediately. This would allow me to proceed with whatever I propose to do in terms of the disposal of the property. We cannot lose sight of our constitutional requirement to sell the property for whatever price and to whom we so wish.

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