Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

To be very brief, I hear a lot about the perfect being the enemy of the good. However, we must remember that there is a concept called "the better", for which we could still all aim. I would suggest that the best way for the Minister of State and others who have expressed concern in this is to assert that the problem is that one really cannot come in and ask for a blank cheque. That is the problem. To be clear, it is not a matter of the purchase of open market dwellings. I was most clear on that point in my first, second and third contributions. If the Minister of State were to indicate that there is going to be a cap on that, it would really help, because then we would know.

It is important to note that we are on Committee State of the Bill. Report Stage is on the way. Report Stage is literally for improving legislation. That is what this legislative process is for. We are actually quite within our bounds to assert that this legislation is not the best that it could be and we would like the Minister to fix it or improve it on Report Stage. That is a really legitimate thing to do. It is not an either-or and one-shot only process. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and other circumstances, this Government in particular has got really used to legislation going through in one-shot only resolutions or using the guillotine procedure. That is not what this is. We are in the weeds here. It is about tweaking and fixing the legislation.

If we table an amendment to section 5(c), it does not mean that we are necessarily against the purchasing of homes on the open market. It means that it is phrased wrong and too openly, it does not set a cap, does not address our concerns and we would like to see a better version of it on Report Stage. That is a fairly reasonable thing to be doing. It is part of the legislative process.