Let the record show that I meant Helen of Troy. I was always beguiled by Liz Taylor.

Will the Taoiseach respond to recent newspaper statements to the effect that estate agents and auctioneers propose to increase their fees by 33% as a result of the apparent slowdown of price acceleration in the housing market? Specifically on behalf of the auctioneers, a gentleman called Mr. Fintan McNamara told the Irish Independent:

During the course of the boom it was very very easy to sell properties. Agents very often were just facilitators in the sale process. Now, however, as the market cools, agents are going to have to use their marketing skills and there will be a lot more work involved.

Will the Taoiseach permit a situation where, for example, the cost of the buying and selling process of an average house will rise from €5,250 to €7,000, on top of all the other charges young people have to pay? I do not recall auctioneers reducing their commissions when prices were going up. It seems the same amount of selling is involved whether the property is €1 million or is an averaged price house. Houses went up by 12% and commercial property values rose in double digits. I do not need to tell the Taoiseach how fraught and harrowing the business of buying a home is. How is it that his Government, however, will defend and protect the interests of developers and anybody with money but not those of young people who are trying to buy a home? Why is the Taoiseach not calling in the Competition Authority to deal with this issue? Why is he not bringing forward the Bill that has been promised for five years, to regulate estate agents and auctioneers who can do and charge what they like? We have seen the malpractices some of them are engaged in highlighted in recent times.

I will not defend, condone or stand over developers, auctioneers or agents of any type who engage in this. Regulation of the property services sector, which is vested in the new property regulator services authority, as already outlined in the House in the last session by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, will license and regulate management agents, who are often the source of problems as regards service charges and accountability. We had this debate in the House in the autumn. Subject to checking, the heads of the Bill were passed before Christmas and the legislation has gone for drafting. Issues that relate to local authority planning conditions, estates being taken in charge etc. are covered in that legislation. Changes are to be made in company law to help avoid problems such as failure in any of these areas, including what the legislation was particularly meant to deal with, namely, management companies. It was also intended to include all the other areas. The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement has issued guidelines in the last few days as regards the governance of these types of companies which will help control the management of the companies. The report points to certain measures that should be taken as regards matters such as charges, dealing, agents, contracts and management company structures.

Perhaps the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement cannot do much about the legal end. However, to answer the Deputy's question, the heads of the property regulator services authority legislation have been drafted and are designed to deal with the point the Deputy has raised. There is also——

Let us move on to the next hope.

We have already got the heads of the Bill in place. In terms of the matter raised by Deputy Rabbitte, it is the seller who pays the auctioneer, not the buyer. For once I agree with him that there is no argument whatsoever to be made or any justifiable case for auctioneers to have any increase, having worked on the basis of 30,000 to 35,000 a year, while they are now selling in the range of 94,000 and that figure might drop to 88,000. There is a process involving the Competition Authority where one can get an auctioneer's licence. It may be a bit cumbersome, but it must be regulated. The only way to deal with it is by having more competition.

Deputy Rabbitte asked me why I would condone this sort of thing. We are not condoning it. The heads of the property services regulatory authority Bill went before the Government before Christmas. This Bill will license and regulate management agents, who are the source of these problems. That will hopefully help the costs.

Of all the rambling, meandering, irrelevant answers that the Taoiseach has ever given in the House, that is the worst of them.

First prize.

The Deputy does not want me to legislate.

The Bill to deal with management companies, which we have raised on these benches so many times, has got absolutely nothing to do with the Taoiseach's friends in the auctioneering business. A Bill has been promised by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for five years to deal with the regulation and licensing of auctioneers. There is no sign of it and no prospect of it coming before this House.

The Taoiseach saw the excellent "Prime Time" programme which exposed the practices that are going on in the industry, such as the practice of inventing bids and ghost bidders which put up the prices. The Taoiseach will have to point out to me the person who sells a home but who does not have to buy a home. Where I live, anybody who sells a home must buy a home, so I do not know what point the Taoiseach is making.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

A very eminent Member of the other House wrote an article recently about how to become a member of the auctioneers' association. He is now trading, although I do not know if he is doing any business. He says that as long as one pays a bond of €12,700 and one does not have a police record, one can start out as an auctioneer. In his article, he states:

Today I can advertise as an auctioneer; I can buy and sell houses for commission; I can advise on guide prices; I can conduct auctions galore; I can gazump until the cows come home. Best of all, I can take in buckets of money from a gullible public. I am not subject to the prying inspections of the financial regulator, the Central Bank, any fig-leaf of an auctioneers' body — or anyone else.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

That is the actual situation. There is no regulation and there is no licensing. Judging from what the Taoiseach has said, he has no intention of sending the Competition Authority after these guys. This is a disgrace. After all the money that has been creamed off in the last 15 years, they are threatening to put up fees by 33% because the price of houses will not rise at the same rate as they have in the last ten years. It is an outrage and the Government needs to act on it, rather than talking about planning and development conditions, management companies and any other sand the Taoiseach thinks he can throw in the eyes of the public.

I ask the Deputy to give way to the Taoiseach.

Do not buy a house from Senator Ross.

If I give a long answer, the Deputy gets confused, so I will give a short answer.

Allow the Taoiseach to continue without interruption please.

I said to Deputy Rabbitte that the heads of the property services regulatory authority Bill were published before Christmas. The Bill will be responsible for auctioneers, estate agencies and management agencies. That is precisely the issue that the Deputy raised today. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform set up a working group on the regulation of auctioneers. I understand that was a public group and the Labour Party made no submission to it. Under current competition rules, auctioneers are not allowed to fix fees, so it is not the case that they can do anything, as the eminent Member of the Upper House suggested. I thought Senator Ross was in another profession, but maybe he is an auctioneer as well. Auctioneers usually arrange fees in agreement with the public, but under competition rules they are not allowed to fix fees. If Deputy Rabbitte thinks they are involved in that, they are breaking competition rules.

It is inevitable that things move up and down as market forces come into play. If the houses are not being sold, auctioneers will not have the staff. We have proposed legislation and we have published the heads of a Bill that is responsible for auctioneers and agents. The working group of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform will examine and regulate auctioneers and it is still in operation. Under competition rules, they are not allowed to fix fees.

Where is the Bill on the list?

The Taoiseach without interruption; there is no provision for a third supplementary question.

I commented on the management fees because that issue is also relevant. The Bill will protect management companies that also affect young people, which was a part of these proposals.