Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would also like to pay tribute to Mr. Jimmy Walsh. Jimmy would be fairly described as a master of the accurate paraphrase. Despite our best intentions around here, we do not always manage to say exactly what we mean in precise English prose, and it has been Jimmy's task to be relentless in the pursuit of accuracy. I am sure, like others, I have been occasionally approached with the question: "Does this accurately convey what you are saying?" Jimmy always manages to do this very accurately. That is a particular skill and one that other journalists could and should emulate - the desire to be exactly right, precise and fair to the speaker and to the subject of comments. Jimmy Walsh deserves great credit for that. It is over 40 years since he first reported from this House.

I want to raise an issue I have raised before. While the Leader gave me a response at the time, I could not locate it when I checked the record this morning. It concerns the issue of unpaid development levies to local authorities. We are reminded today of what I said previously in the House, namely, councils throughout the country are owed ¤750 million in development levies. This is a remarkable issue when we think that these unpaid levies were normally required to be paid before construction work began, or at least on a phased basis, yet it so happens there is this vast amount of money unpaid. This is, of course, a result of the bursting of the property bubble, but where was the stewardship that allowed the situation to develop?

On a previous occasion, I raised the stated intention of Wicklow County Council to pursue homeowners in a number of estates for sums of up to ¤5,000 where the developer of the estate had failed to pay the relevant levy. There may very well be issues here in regard to how solicitors did their business and whether they have exposed their clients to strict legal liability. However, it seems to me there is a justice issue where local authorities failed to collect levies either on time or at all. It cannot simply be the case that people could be gone after for unmanageable sums of money.

This should be of interest and concern to the Executive. I would be grateful if we could arrange for the Minister to address this issue in the House at an early opportunity. Perhaps he was here and I missed it, but I do not believe it has been discussed in this House since I raised it last.