Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 28:

In page 19, to delete lines 40 to 45.

My concern is that the section may be unconstitutional. We have created a property right and the Constitution forbids us to place restraints on the transfer of that property. My view is that the licence should have no value. It was worth a lot more, at over €100,000, at one stage when the licences were scarce. They are currently selling for about €3,000, as advertised in the Evening Herald most evenings. The licences are property and we would be interfering with the right of people to transfer a licence which has constitutional protection. My wish is that licences were not treated as property and that they had no value other than as pieces of paper. If too few of them are issued, they then acquire this value and they then become the same as any other kind of property. I would be concerned about the constitutional implications of restricting the right of people to transfer that property. I wish they were worth zero but they are worth something. This section may interfere with the right to dispose of property under the property rights provisions in the Constitution.