Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will reread a sentence from the Minister of State's script. I know this is not his own wording. He states: "[I]t is a well established principle of constitutional law that legislative restrictions which affect property rights retrospectively are prima facie unjust". Clearly somebody in Government knows the well established principle of constitutional law, yet the Fine Gael and Labour Parties manifesto state otherwise. The current Labour Party Leader, Deputy Eamon Gilmore states the law on the Statute Book which does not allow for downward rent revision is crazy and that the Labour Party will change the law so that businesses which got stuck with high rents at the height of the boom will be able to have them renegotiated. How is it that members of the Fine Gael and Labour parties who were running for office were able to come up with such promises, when it is a well established principle of constitutional law that one cannot do what was promised?