David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have two issues to raise today and they are related. The first concerns a woman jailed for contempt of court for refusing to surrender her house to a vulture fund. This woman has two teenage daughters. It is quite extraordinary to think no banker in this State has ever gone to prison yet we jail women with children for refusing to vacate their premises for vulture funds. I raise this in the context of the Supreme Court hearing a case on the issue and the fact that European law does not allow judges to jail citizens in this way. The Supreme Court heard an appeal in April. We await the outcome. It is quite extraordinary that a woman would be jailed while we await a decision of the Supreme Court in this matter.

The second point concerns a practice that is developing once again - we experienced it during the boom - whereby developers are advertising housing developments on websites and in the newspapers and using the term "price on application". This is a method for them to determine the level of interest without disclosing the price. They can then raise the price to the level they think the market will bear. This is very wrong.