Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I agree with Senator White. This has been a huge issue during the years. In my years as a member of a local authority and as a Member of this House, over 30 years, I could never see how councils could get the upper hand with regard to unfinished estates and developments. They have tried several means ranging from bonds to taking in charge of part of a site, but in the end they always ended up worse off. In most cases where the rogue developer took off and left an unfinished estate, the local authority was left with a big bill. There must be some way around this problem. Senator White has proposed that such rogue developers should not get permission to build another development but I presume the developer could build in another local authority area. There must be a way of curtailing these builders. Taking bonds and sites has not worked; therefore, councils do not have the right mechanism. If they do not have a mechanism, we should include a proper one in the Bill. If we miss this opportunity, we will be discussing the problem for the next 30 years.