Seller's Legal Pack: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-27 ============================================================ Aubrey McCarthy (IND), University of Dublin I have listened to colleagues and enjoyed the debate. I also listened carefully to the amendment. I thank the Minister of State for his response. I thank Senators for contributing. It is helpful to realise that we are all on the same page. Point-scoring was mentioned but that is certainly not what I am about. Senator Cathal Byrne summed it up lovely when he said that we are all seeing that there are issues in this process. Perhaps, further work needs to be done, but we definitely see there are issues. I forgot to mention when I first spoke about former Deputy, Marc MacSharry who brought forward the seller's legal pack Bill in the Dáil. The Government's amendment concludes that non-statutory implementation is the most effective way and achieving an eight-week national conveyancing target is what is in mind. The Minister of State said: I wish to assure the Independent Group that it is also intended that this area is kept under review. If the implementation of codes of practice does not result in the efficiencies expected, the legislative route will be revisited in the future. My fear is that no timeline is given. Ireland's home buying process is far too slow and too risky. The seller's legal pack is a simple, effective way to fix that issue by ensuring that all the critical information is on the table. If the Government is considering plausible and enforceable measures on a non-legislative basis, there is an absence of a timeline. That is what we need to focus on. If the Minister of State can tell me the plans and deadlines right now, that would be greatly appreciated. What is the Government's plan to make that pre-sale information available without introducing new legislation? I can press the motion or accept the amendment. I just want to make a difference in the housing sector to try to make sure that people like Keith, who I mentioned earlier, can be helped and we all move together. I never see myself as in opposition to anybody. I want to work forward. Anybody who knows me in the House knows that I have a track record of working together in good faith and listening carefully. Yet, at the same time, I can step back when it helps to deliver real progress rather than simply winning an argument. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-27/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-27