Shane Ross (Independent)

Yes, it has been a long road. The process started in this House six or seven years ago when Senator O'Toole and I said something had to be done about auctioneers. We progressed to a special commission to examine auctioneers, followed by recommendations. Whereas there are many inadequacies in the Bill, the situation is far better than it was. Not to put too fine a tooth in it, prior to this Bill, there was no regulation in auctioneering. There were a couple of auctioneering bodies which were toothless and fought each other rather than anybody else. They did little to regulate auctioneers. In fact, the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute, IAVI, and the association of chartered surveyors have merged since yesterday and it should be noted that the chartered surveyors are not calling themselves auctioneers, while the auctioneers are calling themselves chartered surveyors. Nobody has the desire, given the history of auctioneering in this country, to call himself or herself an auctioneer, following the scams and malpractices in the sector. One did not require a single qualification to be an auctioneer. That one did not have to be able to read, write or add to be an auctioneer was an absolute disgrace, given that one was handling clients' money.

It is appropriate to welcome this measure, although I accept there have been political difficulties for the Government in doing this. The auctioneering lobby is and has been extremely strong and there has been much behind the scenes action in an attempt to amend, change and defeat the Bill. The legislation is a step in the right direction. I will not add anything further on its inadequacies which have been mentioned many times. This is progress and I thank the Minister for bringing the process to completion.