SEANAD REPORT:IT SEEMED that an amnesty had been given to those who had created a false market in the housing area and this had led Shane Ross (Ind) to conclude that auctioneers were a protected species of rogues in Irish society.
The absence of the long-promised auctioneering Bill was relevant today because of the extremely serious incidents where The Irish Times had been fed with false information by auctioneers. This was far worse than the issue he had raised last week - the lack of financial regulation on the stock exchange and in other areas.
"Whereas in that area it's serious in that it may or may not be causing a distortion of the market, here we are having a false market created, which is leading first-time buyers, the most vulnerable people in society, into believing the price of houses is higher than it is. This is illegal. There seems to be absolutely nobody who can do a damn thing about it."
The regulatory body had taken no action about something that had been happening under their noses for a long period of time. "They have done nothing until it was actually rumbled at the weekend by a newspaper."
The National Consumer Agency had set a 48-hour deadline for an end to this kind of activity. But they were going to do nothing about what had already happened. They were not going to prosecute those involved. It seemed that auctioneers were a protected species because they had such muscle in the advertising market.
Cathaoirleach Pat Moylan told Mr Ross he did not like the word "rogue" being applied to any group of people.
Mr Ross: "I am saying there are rogue auctioneers around and about. I am not being specific about anybody in particular. The reason why they are tolerated is the reason that I was interrupted in this House, because there are so many of them in the Oireachtas, in the Seanad and in the county councils of Ireland, and these people have got to be brought to book."
Mr Moylan said: "Because I might interrupt you, I am not one of them. There are a lot of decent people in all those organisations."
Paul Coghlan (FG) said if the long-delayed Property Services Regulatory Authority Bill had been enacted, they would not have had recent headlines over what was going on between some members of that profession. "Some" had to be emphasised.
The Government has refused to amend Freedom of Information legislation along lines put forward by the Labour Party. Responding to the contents of a Labour Private Members' Bill, Minister of State for Finance Noel Ahern told the House he believed that there was a strong legislative regime in place. "It is working well and change is not indicated," he said.
The Minister said the Bill sought to row back on changes made in 2003, which had been fully discussed in both Houses. "They were based on careful consideration and experience."
Dominic Hannigan (Lab) said it was time the Government began to trust the public. His party wanted to re-establish the Freedom of Information Act by eliminating the cynical changes made four years ago and by introducing certain recommendations that the Information Commission had been vigorously pushing for.
"We are seeking to redefine what kinds of public bodies will be open to Freedom of Information, incorporating the Garda, the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority, the Adoptions Board, the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, the Law Society and many more. Many departments have sought refuge from the public by hiding behind clauses of secrecy. This Bill will introduce over 70 specific provisions to end that move."
Dan Boyle (GP), acting Government leader, said they had to be honest about abuses of the legislation, which had on occasions been used for "lazy journalism. As a political system, we contribute to that by withholding information that should be public. The idea that a journalist writes in every year and asks for all the money that has been received by every public representative, or someone working for a public representative, should not have to be requested. If we are more open as a democracy, the more information we put out there, the less requests there will be to use legislation to access that information."
Fine Gael member Maurice Cummins said he was furious that Catholic magazine Alive published a lie about the Lisbon Treaty. It had been suggested that abortion would be more freely available if the treaty were passed. "This is a downright lie, and I am saddened to say the church allowed such a leaflet to be distributed," he said.