Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Preventing a developer from retaining a unit for his own legitimate purposes may very well infringe his property rights under the Constitution. What the Senator is trying to do is to combat the practice whereby a developer would retain a unit thereby preventing the management company from taking over the common areas. That will no longer be possible following the enactment of the legislation so therefore it is not necessary to prevent a developer from retaining a unit in a completed development. Sections 3 and 4 make quite clear what has to happen in terms of the transfer of common areas. The amendment is unnecessary and would potentially infringe a private individual's property rights.