Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome this amendment and thank the Minister for introducing it. I shall begin by make some brief comments on the amending of the original Bill to include mixed use developments. As my colleague stated, this situation is not confined to the greater Dublin area. There are examples in many towns throughout the country where a ground floor of a relatively new development might be for retail use with the first floor in office use and the second, third and sometimes the fourth floor would be apartments. I know of two such examples in west Cork; it is typical usage. This amendment extends the legislation in a very subtle way to include such developments.

I understand the situation about voting rights. If there are 60 apartments and four retail units then one vote per unit or per apartment would not be a fair and equitable system.

A second point worth mentioning is where the Minister rightly deals with an issue that exists primarily in the greater Dublin area rather than in Munster towns. For whatever reason, some estates were built to a certain model. In a normal situation when an estate is developed, the intention is that at some stage in the future the local authority will take charge of all services within and leading to the estate, including footpaths, water provision, electricity and cabling, etc. That is normally what happens after perhaps two to four years. However, whether because of a lacuna or an intentional fudge, the development of these estates was done in such a way as to avoid the imposition of blame or culpability or the notion that the local authority would take charge. I may be wrong about this but the amendment is very welcome. As my colleague, Senator Coffey, pointed out, in some of these estates there were many complaints from people who were paying a management company or others involved for services without being sure what services they were getting. There was no accountability or transparency and this matter should be sorted out.

A greater issue is for the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the relevant Minister, to ensure that this situation should not and will not happen again. It has created problems. I am glad that the amendment, as set out by the Minister, has clarified significantly a number of issues that affect people living in such estates. Other bodies involved in the development of estates also have raised these issues. This is a very prudent amendment on the part of the Minister and I support it in full.