Alex White (Labour)

They are safeguards, and certainly the bond system should be in place.

In response to what Senator Butler stated, I personally am aware of a considerable number of examples on the south side of the city where bonds were taken up and were inadequate, not slightly but grossly, to deal with the problem that emerged at the end of the day. The council was fumbling around for a few bob to finish an estate and was tens of thousands of euro short of what was required.

As Senator Burke stated, we should have the bond system but it is not a perfect system. The Minister has his guidelines etc. That is all fine. I congratulate him on that. That work should continue. Let us just keep our eye on the ball here. We are talking about four different examples of where one will be excluded, and we want to add a fifth.