James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber to discuss this very important Bill. I thank those who helped to produce the Bill, especially Senator Coghlan, who has put so much time and effort into drawing it up.

The practice of stage payments, which has resulted in this Bill that is before us for a second time, is a form of legalised extortion. It represents nothing more than a pushing out of the boundaries to extract every cent possible from those struggling to meet the costs of a first property. The rungs of the property ladder are being pulled further and further apart by the actions of modern highwaymen and pirates, who exploit the financial position and powerlessness of first-time buyers attempting to take their first step into home ownership.

I call on the Government to support Senator Coghlan's Private Members' Bill to end the practice of stage payments for houses built in housing estates, which is another Government-supported rip-off. In June 2004, when it was first before this House, Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern said of this Bill:

If the other routes to which I referred do not lead to potential success, I will support the legislation if we decide it is the only route to take. I suggest a period of approximately six months to see if the other routes are successful. I agree with the basic idea in the legislation. I find it difficult to disagree with what Senator Coghlan and others in the House to whom I spoke recently are trying to achieve.

As a considerably longer period than six months has passed and the Government has done nothing to end the anomaly highlighted in the Bill, I hope there will be unity here this evening and common sense will prevail in the interest of home buyers, not developers. The Government must commit to this and replace empty words with action.

In 2006 official statistics show the average first-time buyer is paying more than €250,000 for his or her first home. Meanwhile, only 1,833 affordable houses were acquired, only 730 shared ownership transactions were completed and only 57 sites have been fully or partially developed on foot of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000.