Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

I appreciate that. It is easy to condemn an entire business and profession. There are rogues in every business and there should be legislation, sanctions and enforcement procedures to ensure they are held to account. That is the basis for the demand for this legislation to regulate the profession. If there is a failure in the system, it is a failure to provide the necessary legislative base to deal with these issues. There is no point throwing up our hands and saying it is easy to get an auctioneering licence without qualifications. If that is the case and the legislation is inadequate, this should have been dealt with. It is a failure of Government that it did not legislate to deal with issues and problems that arose from time to time.

The delay in this legislation is unfortunate. It is an anomaly that we have proceeded to establish the property services regulatory authority provisionally and appoint a chief executive when there is no legislation in place to enable that person to carry out his functions. This formula seems to apply also to the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA. It is important that legislation is put in place and the Houses of the Oireachtas are consulted and play their normal role in establishing legislation before Government policy is pursued and activated.

The 2004 report of the Auctioneering/Estate Agency Review Group rightly points out that "the current regulatory system set up by the Auctioneers and House Agents Act 1947 (as amended) is outdated, inappropriate and inadequate for the present day market in Ireland". This should have been amended a long time ago.

The schema set out in this legislation seems top heavy. Can we afford this type of legislation and regulation or is there a simpler formula? We are establishing a new body, the property services regulatory authority but there is already the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Do we need a completely new body to perform a straightforward function when there is legislation to impose requirements for professional qualifications, maintain standards and specify the offences and sanctions? Do we need the elaborate procedure of setting up a new authority and an independent appeals board when there is still reference to the courts? One cannot avoid the courts. There will be litigation. The structure may be top heavy, too elaborate and costly.

I will not go into the detailed provisions of the Bill because my colleague has already ventilated some of them. The Bill outlaws important issues concerning bidding at auctions which we all know from experience have existed. The chartered surveyors however have made points which seem to have some validity and require re-examination of the relevant articles in the Bill. We can reserve our right to put forward detailed amendments in this regard. The Bill's objective is valid. There needs to be detailed regulation of those who qualify for a licence in the profession and a system put in place to maintain standards whereby clear breaches of those standards are forcefully sanctioned and people are held to account. For that reason we welcome the Bill but will submit amendments on Committee Stage.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, mentioned in introducing the Bill, although it is not part of the Bill, the difficulties for the retail sector of rigid adherence to upward only rent reviews. We have known about this problem for a considerable time but what is the Minister doing about it? He hints that he may consider legislative intervention. This is an example of the Government's tardiness in going about a job and dealing with issues as they arise. It should not put them on the long finger. The fact is there are difficulties in the property market affecting the retail sector, as we all know. Addressing this specific issue would not require elaborate legislation. While issues arise over existing contractual arrangements, it is urgent that the Minister act in this area. Simply to mention the issue and hint at possible legislative intervention without proposing solutions and acting on the matter is insufficient. It is important the Minister proposes some initiative in this area and outlines his prescription for dealing with the acute problem in the property market in the current economic climate. I will not at this stage propose specific amendments on the Bill and will confine my comments to the general observations I have made.