Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thought the phrase caveat emptor - let the buyer beware - had vanished into the mists of time and that we had reached more enlightened times where buyers and consumers were concerned. I am amazed, however, to hear that this appears to be the approach Galway County Council may take with home owners who have homes and residential units on which development levies should have been paid but were not collected by the local authority. It is proposed to target these home owners with bills of up to ¤5,000 each. This seems to be an unjust state of affairs. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government should attend the House to discuss why ¤800 million is owed to county councils nationwide in unpaid levies. It appears some developers, having gone bust in some cases, did not pay the levies connected with their being granted planning permission in the first place. It also appears that it is proposed in some quarters to target the home owners in such developments. People in a number of housing estates in the Wicklow area have been hit with bills of up to ¤2,270. In Donegal, by the end of last year, the council was owed ¤4.7 million in unpaid levies.

Another principle comes into play, that of Equity's Darling. The bona fide purchaser for value without notice is always seen as the one which equity protects. It will be inequitable if councils which failed to collect levies when they should have done now turn on home owners. There also may be issues about the way solicitors behaved in signing over ownership of the homes to the buyers.

Frankly, this is not a bill ordinary people can afford to pay and the State must take an interest in the matter. County and city councils may well have been dilatory or even negligent. I would like the Minister to come to the House to discuss the Government's attitude to this issue. Will the Government side with home owners or let them be targeted by local authorities in a way that would be extremely unfair?