Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House.

I wish to indicate support for this amendment. It is really important because, if we think back to the debates we have had on housing over the last five years, we know that points often have been made on the floor about concerns, about what might happen and about unintended consequences or sometimes even forewarned consequences to specific aspects of the policies. We have seen that things have to get changed and tweaked. We have seen that loopholes can be exploited. We have seen that measures do not have the impact that we was hoped for at the time they were brought in. Having these regulations laid before the Houses gives the Minister of State and the Government the opportunity to get those different perspectives from people across the House, in terms of the possible implications of the regulations. There is quite a lot within this Bill that is not in the primary legislation but which will be given to the Minister to put into effect. There is a lot of nuance there. Given that and given that we want to avoid the time lags in the shifts of policy that we have seen on housing, whereby we actually are getting things right earlier, it would be a really good idea to accept this amendment.