Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I compliment my colleague, Senator Coghlan, on bringing forward the Bill. It is a tribute to him and a practical example of how politicians can remain in touch with the world around them and put their finger on the pulse of need. While I welcome the Minister of State to the House, I have great difficulty with his concluding remarks. I do not understand why he is worried about waving a big stick over builders who have been kicking youngsters around this country for the past ten years at least. These people have been scrimping and scraping to buy a house sometimes without even knowing the price of it. Sometimes the price of houses increase after people have had a verbal agreement to purchase them. Sometimes people must go to court to try to force agreement on the price of a house. This happened recently. I would go along with what the Minister of State said if he promised to introduce a pro tem regulation next week to stop this happening.

I fail to understand what the examination is about because it is a clear-cut issue. The Minister of State asked why buying a house in Dublin is different from buying a house in other parts of the country. The answer is very simple, it is the market. Government backbenchers have spoken about the party being pushed too far to the right, being market driven, and this is the outcome of it. It is wrong and unfair. As stated in the memorandum, it is fine for someone who owns a site and gets a builder to build. That is a different arrangement, because whatever happens, the person will always be behind with the payments, will at least own the site and the completed work, and the only difference will be to conclude the work.

This issue is not dealt with in the legislation. The legislation should protect people in the event of a builder going bust. Approximately three years ago, when the price of houses increased, many people could not afford to buy them. This happened to people in Drogheda and north Dublin. Builders went bust and people who had paid money for houses did not get their money back. The money was part of the assets of the company which went bust and people who had paid a deposit lost out. There is nothing to examine in this regard. The Minister of State and I know this is happening and he has not given a logical reason for not supporting the legislation. While he agrees with the proposals in the Bill, he will not support it. The answer is very simple: the Minister of State is afraid of his officials. I know of no one on the opposite side of the House who does not agree with the legislation. I suspect the Minister of State also agrees with it but he finds himself in an awkward position. As the Tánaiste said during the week, it is time people made decisions. They should say to Departments what they want and ensure it is delivered. The Minister of State should be saying this is good legislation and the Government parties will make it even better. If necessary he should say he will table 24,000 amendments on Committee Stage to improve the legislation beyond recognition, make it Government legislation and produce results. This is what needs to happen.

This is the type of thing young people talk about. Why are they always being buried by the big people in society? Why can big builders look down on small buyers, call the shots, insist they get the money and, if not, sell to the next person? This is not the only daft practice. I recently met people from the European Construction Federation. They told me they are amazed and secretly appalled at the practice in Ireland of people buying property off the plans. It is commonplace in Ireland. People are now coming here from Budapest, Prague and other places, putting charts up on the wall of a fancy hotel and Irish people are queuing up to give money for it. It does not happen anywhere else in the world. This is done in the context of the common law caveat emptor so there is no protection whatever. It is bad enough having to buy something without protection but having the dice loaded against one is completely unfair.

Most builders throughout the country share my views on this, for the reasons outlined by the Minister. Most builders who are building a couple of houses at a time expect to be treated reasonably and treat their clients reasonably. The people who are involved in the practices at issue in this Bill are the big boys, those who want to upgrade their helicopters to make life a little more comfortable for themselves.

This legislation could be an example of the Government reaching out to the little people, of Fianna Fáil finding its roots and reaching the people who did not know where Fianna Fáil was last week. These are the issues the party must tackle. Senator Coghlan placed the ball at the Minister's feet today and all he had to do was kick it into the net. However, he has done a David Beckham with it and kicked it wide. This is the type of thing that will be remembered.

The argument I am making is the preferred position of everybody on the Government side of the House but the Minister has employed the classic Fianna Fáil tactic of speaking in favour of the legislation but voting against it. That will not work. It is wrong and it does not become the Minister. He has said many positive things and has stood up to people on the housing issue. I have supported him in that. I have regularly told the House that there were more housing completions in this country last year, approximately 70,000 houses, than in all of Britain which, with a population 16 times larger than ours, only had 150,000 house completions. It is extraordinary. No other country in Europe has managed to supply as many houses as were supplied in this country last year and the Government can take credit for that.

However, the large builder-developers are sitting on land and "releasing" pieces of it into a confined market. They are interfering with supply and demand by ensuring that supply will never meet demand. This Bill is one way in which life could be made easier for the people who are struggling to put a roof over their heads and establish themselves in the community. They are already at the mercy of banks, non-mutual building societies and other financial institutions which are making big profits at the expense of people earning low salaries. This is our chance to do something for those people and it appears that the Government is walking away from it. Shame on the Minister.