Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

The situation described by Senator Brian Hayes regarding what happened to so many young people who wished to buy houses is appalling. None of us likes to see this happen. We need tighter consumer measures in the interest of young buyers and for that reason I will reintroduce the stage payments Bill. One of the recommendations of the Government review group on the auctioneering profession is to abolish such practices and hopefully we will get all-party agreement in this House on the measures it proposes. It is wrong that people must pay in full long before they occupy a house. That is unbalanced, unjust and unsupportable. I hope we have all-party agreement on the measure which will be one step towards putting things right.