Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That was what was driving up the costs. I ask the delegates for their view on that.

Another question, while the delegates are here, concerns ghost estates. Around the country, there are a large number of units which are 50%, 70% or 75% finished. These are units, where there is a shell, that need some work done on them. This is not of benefit to the delegates' members and it is certainly not of benefit to society or the poor unfortunate people who are living in some of these estates. In one estate of which I am aware, five houses are occupied and over 40 are empty yet we have people are all over the place looking for housing. How do the delegates see these houses being brought into use, because it is very hard to get developers in some cases to buy into site resolution plans?

It is very difficult to get site resolution plans in place. The delegates' members are key to this. Receivers, where receivers exist, local residents and the local authorities are the pillars of site resolution plans. We need to get site resolution plans in place. There are jobs to be created in finishing these units. There are people who need them. There is a sale value in them. The value of them is not increasing. There are fellows going around in white vans pulling the copper cylinders and the fittings out of these units. Local residents are trying to watch them and the gardaí are being called out to try to protect them.

We cannot sit back and allow these estates to remain one quarter occupied or 10% occupied, in some cases. We must get these estates into use. It would help to create jobs and would get people into, I hope, good quality housing. I would specifically like the witnesses to come back on this issue of the Part 5. How do they see the 1% contribution delivering on-----