asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce what action, if any, he proposes to take to curb the exorbitant prices which house purchasers must pay at the present time.
101.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price of Houses.
100.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if his Department have received any complaints from the Department of Local Government or any other source to the effect that there has been, and continues to be, excessive profiteering in housing development; and what action he has taken, or will take, in this matter which is of great public concern.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 101 together.
Since the beginning of 1966, I have received nine complaints about house prices. In four of these cases, the complainants have not yet furnished the particulars I asked for which are necessary to enable their complaints to be investigated. In two cases, contracts for the purchase of the houses had already been completed, and action by me was, therefore, precluded under section 21 of the Prices Act, 1958 and section 22D of the Prices (Amendment) Act, 1965. The remaining three cases are under investigation by my Department.
As I stated in reply to a question on 8th November, 1966, I am prepared to have any cases investigated in which there is prima facie evidence of unwarranted increases in the price of new houses, provided the full facts in relation to each case are made available to me.
Is it seriously suggested by the Minister that his Department is awaiting individual complaints before investigating what is recognised as a widespread public scandal and something about which his colleague, the Minister for Local Government, has already spoken? He says he is aware of these nine cases in what is known by general consent as a public scandal.
What I said was that I received nine complaints about house prices since the beginning of 1966. This is correct. If the Deputy thinks the procedure allowed for under the Prices Act is such that I can go around to check the prices of houses in different estates and make the investigations that are necessary, this is just not feasible under the machinery we have. Indeed, it is difficult to visualise the kind of machinery that would enable this to be possible. From the investigation we have been making of the complaints we got, it is quite clear that the type of investigation needed is quite difficult and to get the information needed to make a complaint stick is very difficult.
Surely the statement made by the Minister for Local Government in this connection would indicate that he has good information? Would the Minister for Industry and Commerce not consult with him, get information from him and act on it?
I have consulted with the Minister for Local Government in regard to the complaints I have received, and with his Department in regard to the investigation of cases where we had to get the information. That Department is in a position to assist my Department considerably in the investigation of increases in house prices. Arising out of this kind of complaint, I have been in touch with the Minister for Local Government on the lines on which he has spoken publicly, because, under the Prices Acts, we are not in a position to control the abuse of which he complained. If we were, he would not have to complain about it because it could be dealt with under existing machinery.
Deputies who have given thought to this will realise that it is not simply a matter of introducing legislation to deal with it. It is a good deal more complicated than that. The speech by the Minister for Local Government indicates that a number of people, including myself, I may say, feel that the matter is one which, despite the difficulties involved, cannot be allowed to continue. Unless the interests concerned are prepared to exercise self-discipline, some thought will have to be given to dealing with them in some other way.
The Minister for Local Government could give the Minister a lot of information about it.
The Federation of Builders early last year provided a memorandum in which they spoke in general terms of the disturbing trends in the building trade. It must not go abroad that a Minister is empowered only to make a speech about what is undoubtedly highway robbery by certain elements in our community who can be described as nothing more than crooks. The Minister for Industry and Commerce must take strong action if the prices machinery is not strong enough. These people are holding the community up to real ransom and everyone is suffering.
I do not disagree entirely with Deputy O'Leary's interpretation of the position. Although I might not put it quite so far as he puts it, I do not disagree basically with it. Deputies will realise that the matter about which the Minister for Local Government was speaking primarily was the cost of sites, not the cost of the actual buildings or materials, although these are matters, too, which have been the cause of complaints and which my Department has been investigating. The question of the increase in the cost of sites is one which certainly cannot be dealt with under the existing prices machinery. By the very nature of the transaction, it cannot be dealt with in that way. What I have said earlier applies also to that situation.