John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not accept that the Department is neutral, nor should it be. However, the Department and the Government have a responsibility to the taxpayer and they cannot open up a potential liability. There are more than 200,000 apartments in the country. A responsible Government cannot be in the business of being the first port of call for building defects. I am not particularly familiar with the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland and its request for an emergency fund, but it strikes me that it might have skin in the game. Some of its members were surely part of surveying some of these buildings. It might be opportune for that organisation to suggest that the taxpayer should foot the bill.

The people responsible for doing the dodgy work that leads to situations like the one in Belmayne and the other professionals who are involved in such projects should be the first port of call in seeking genuinely necessary compensation for people who find themselves living in a building with big defects through no fault of their own. Responsibility must be on the professionals who constructed and signed off on such buildings.

I take the Senator's general point that the Government and the Department should not be neutral, and I will emphasise this to the Minister. They certainly should not be and as far as I am concerned they are not. Equally, the taxpayers cannot be the first people expected to put their hand in their pocket when professionals do not do their job.