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

The Deputy mentioned a register for where a developer has not completed an estate and, perhaps, has moved onto another local authority area or sometimes even in the same local authority area and starts the process again of getting planning permission for another development. There certainly must be a register in that regard. We can highlight that to the Department, but the response in appendix A is concerning. It states that the Department is not aware of any mechanism that would compel a developer to renew a bond and goes on to refer to the standardised template attached. That shows the system is still deficient and that we have learned nothing from the outcome of the so-called housing boom in the 2000s whereby local authorities were left trying to find the money to finish estates. The Department had to come up with some money to make some estates safe, as there were immediate safety issues that had to be addressed. The concerning thing in this reply is that we still do not have a system in place that is watertight in compelling developers to have the work done before it is returned and to ensure the bond is a real bond and not hung on a wing and a prayer as an insurance bond that may not have proper terms and conditions attached to it.