Averil Power (Fianna Fail)

In regard to the Minister's suggestion that some kind of legal impediment may prevent him from meeting the residents, the residents themselves are not party to the court case. They are unfortunate bystanders to this debacle. Nobody is asking him to intervene in the court proceedings. I have sought legal advice on the issue from experts in constitutional law and have been informed there is no legal impediment because the Minister is not being asked to exercise a judicial function, hold a parallel hearing, direct the judge or otherwise get involved in the legal determination of these issues. Nothing in the Constitution stands in the way of a political solution to a problem that is before the courts. I accept this is a serious issue and I would not ask the Minister to intervene if I believed he faced legal impediments in doing so.

In regard to a national framework for future problem developments, I welcome the fact that he is being proactive in addressing the building regulations for future developments. I appreciate that he can do nothing about developments that were built wrongly in the past or the fact that the system was not good enough but in addition to changing the regulations and ensuring we do not encounter problems with future developments, we also need to put in place a system for dealing with problems in current developments. This is why I ask him to address the question I asked about the establishment of a national framework for dealing with Priory Hall and other developments that were not built properly and will not be affected by the new regulations.