Pat Moylan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State. I acknowledge the importance of this issue and the amount of work Senator Coghlan has put into the Bill. The Senator has highlighted this issue for quite some time. There are problems with the system of stage payments and he has met people who are very much affected by them. The purpose of the Bill is to abolish the practice of stage payments for certain types of newly constructed properties, thereby reducing the cost to purchasers of such housing and eliminating the risks associated with such practices.

We all welcome the possibility of a reduction in cost to the consumer. However, I support the Minister of State's position. He has given us clearly to understand that the Government is carefully considering this issue and is prepared to take the contents of the Bill into account. In light of this the Bill may be premature as the issue will be dealt with later. Builders must initially buy land and pay for the house to be built. If we cannot continue with stage payments for builders the contract price will be increased. That is the bottom line. Stage payments are essential for builders, who plan accordingly for meeting their commitments to their suppliers. Suppliers are paid in stage payments. If we were to abolish this system, we would create a bigger problem down the road.

The Law Society and the issue of contracts were mentioned earlier. Are we to open that door? In many cases contracts are involved but if we are to provide more and bigger contracts for the Law Society the consumer will end up paying more money to solicitors and others. I have not encountered the problems others have in bigger cities and towns. However, for the private single house builder in rural areas, stage payments have been the normal practice over the years. That was understood before the contractor went on site. Developers and many small builders have always insisted on a payment when the foundation was laid, at the roofing stage, or when second fixing started, and some moneys were always held over in case of a problem later. The other side of the coin is that on the construction side, builders and developers must have bonds in place and guarantee that houses will be completed to a particular standard. If that does not happen, the bond kicks in.

The practice of buying a house off the plans was mentioned. I know people who bought houses off the plans at a fixed price and paid a deposit and not much more, and by the time they were moving into their house some 12 or 18 months later the house was worth €50, €60 or €70 more than when they paid the initial deposit on it. Many of them told me that had they waited for the house to be completed, they would not have been in a position to buy it.

Stage payments must be examined in the context of the cost of housing and from the perspective of people who work on those schemes. In some cases they are big builders. However, there are also small contractors, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians. They cannot go very long without money. They must pay the people who are working for them. However, in order for developers to pay them, they must be paid in stages. What the Minister has outlined to us this evening should, therefore, be very acceptable.

Senator Coghlan and others have highlighted problems that can arise in certain parts of the country. However, it is often the case that when there is one bad experience in an area it is highlighted again and again on radio programmes such as Joe Duffy's "Liveline" on RTE in the same way as happens when someone experiences difficulty in getting a bed in a hospital. The thousands of good jobs that are completed and the thousands of people who are being well treated in our hospitals are never mentioned. We always tend to talk about the one problem that arises.

The Minister was very fair in recognising the points made by other people. He agreed to return to the House with solutions that will address the problems. Thousands of people are buying houses under this system and I have not met many who were disappointed. There are codes of practice in place on all sites with which builders must comply. They must have insurance and they must comply with the health and safety regulations and so on.

Senators on the other side of the House also referred to the housing lists. Affordable and social housing is coming on stream only now because much of the land in respect of which planning permission had been sought in the past did not become available until recently. It is only now that we are seeing the benefits of the affordable and social housing in our large towns, and substantial amounts of money have been made available to local authorities to provide other sites and other developments and that is very worthwhile.

The abolition of first-time buyer's grant was also mentioned. However, in my county only a very small percentage of the houses being built at that time qualified because the inclusion of the garage meant they exceeded the limit for a grant.

As I have the ear of the Minister and his officials I would ask him to consider the reintroduction of what was in the past a very valuable reconstruction grant to help in carrying out essential repairs. Over the past ten years quite a number of people bought their houses in local authority housing estates. However, the windows and doors put into these houses when they were built were often of red deal or in some cases white deal and were of very poor quality. The Government should give consideration to the possibility of introducing a reconstruction grant for people in that category, many of whom have borrowed from banks and credit unions to put proper windows and doors in their houses. That needs to be considered because, although the tenant purchase scheme was a very good scheme that enabled people to buy their houses at reasonable cost, they are now under pressure in regard to providing adequate doors and windows.

I support the Minister and hope Senator Coghlan will take on board the Minister's undertaking to come back to the House if required or if the problem worsens.