Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

Like other speakers I welcome the tabling by the Labour Party of this timely Bill. Those of us who have been canvassing during the past few weeks — the Cheann Comhairle has been spared that honour — will have got muck on our boots but this is one of the few nights I do not have muck on my boots. When canvassing in some of the newer housing estates in County Meath, and I am sure the same is true in Kildare North, one finds that footpaths disappear and that one gets covered in muck and dirt because of all the unfinished estates. Not only are they unfinished, but they have inadequate lighting, inadequate services and as many houses as possible are built with the least possible value for residents. That is a planning issue rather than a finishing issue. Many of the residents in Meath, Kildare and all over the country suffer because of the lack of enforcement of the planning permission that has been granted.

In Drogheda an estate of one builder, whom I will spare the embarrassment of being named in the Dáil, after 20 years has not yet been finally taken over. Time and again the local authority asks what are the outstanding works that need to be carried out. Yet this builder has moved from one estate to another. He is not a John A. Murphy becoming a John P. Murphy and he does not change his name, district or guise, yet he gets away with murder. Enforcement of the law has been particularly weak. One reason is that the amount of money, the bond as mentioned by previous speakers, is totally inadequate. We have learned from experience from the 1970s and 1980s and we were lucky to get people to build houses at a good price. The local authority was pleased to get action in its local area and probably did not have the staff to enforce the regulations. Advantage was taken of there being little or no enforcement.

One can see estates in one's county or area completed by good builders who exceed the legal requirements. One such estate which I visited is The Lords in east Meath, which is fabulously well finished. Its roads and lighting are perfect and even the walls which are removed from the Houses have been painted. This estate is built as it should be to a high quality build and design. That is the aim of this Bill.

An issue arises where cowboy builders who have planning permission build a certain number of houses and sell them. Suddenly, the semi-detached houses are changed to terraced houses which sometimes end up squeezed into the green space. When the green space has disappeared the local authority is under pressure and the environment and quality of the estate which people initially expected is downgraded and in a much less attractive position. Given the number of variations to the permission people get tired of following them and in the meantime the builder gets away with murder. That issue must also be addressed.

I am pleased the Minister has agreed in principle to this Bill. It is the collective wisdom of us all that makes it possible to change things.

I refer to a wonderful estate called Kilnamanagh in Tallaght which in the 1970s was the fastest developing satellite city in west Dublin. The Irish Times informs me that Kilnamanagh was Brennan and McGowan's most notorious project. This company was one of the biggest builders in Dublin in the 1970s and 1980s. The company was the target of more litigation by Dublin County Council than any other developer for breaches of the planning codes over unfinished estates. Kilnamanagh was to be a landscaped garden suburb, a wonderful place of 1,600 houses with plenty of open space and numerous other facilities, including play lots. The sales motto was, "When you buy a home in Kilnamanagh, you get more than just a nice home, you buy a whole community, shops, supermarkets, a bank, pub, garage, schools, churches, a community club and even 50 acres of open space." We have all read such advertising blurbs for housing estates in our communities.

See this speech in context