Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Acting Chairman and the Ceann Comhairle and his staff for allowing me to raise this subject on the Adjournment. I compliment the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, on coming into the House to reply to my query. I wish him well in his new ministerial office. I have no doubt that his previous knowledge of local authorities will stand him in good stead. What a pity more people will not come from that quarter in the future.

The matter I wish to raise concerns site development costs amounting to around €130,000 for the subsidised private sites at Easton Mews, Leixlip, County Kildare which were previously the subject of a contract between the voluntary housing group Respond and the current Easton Mews construction company on foot of a provision made by Kildare County Council wherein a decision was made that the Easton Mews development costs would be met by Respond directly or through a figure retained by the council for this purpose. I want to know if the Minister of State will outline the relevant details of the contract or arrangement entered into by Kildare County Council, Respond and the construction company, including the terms of any agreements, contracts or indentures that might in any way affect the development costs to the purchasers of the serviced sites at Easton Mews. This is part of a scheme, whereby the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government encourages people on local authority housing lists to avail of private sites at a cost. It includes clawbacks and other obstacles to ensure houses go to the proper people.

Respond decided to develop the whole site. Some 122 houses are within its responsibility, having been built by the same builder in accordance with its wishes. The builder also contracted to construct 27 houses on private sites. Despite the fact that the sites were originally sold to the recipients at a cost of €15,000 per site, it now transpires that an extra cost of €5,000 is about to be imposed upon them. This is a huge burden on persons on a council housing list. They also have to meet additional costs such as legal fees, apart from the fact that they have borrowed the maximum amount by way of a shared ownership, annuity or even private loan.

This scheme of houses is very modern in terms of fuel efficiency. It is a highly rated development. Kildare county councillors are adamant that a sum of money was set aside to cover the development cost of the site. On behalf of the site recipients, the quantity surveyor set out the costs involved and what precisely had to be done. I have been informed by the local authority that a submission was made to the Department in the past few days. This is a very serious issue. If the submission has been forwarded to the Minister's office for approval, I urge him to approve it forthwith. To the local authority €130,000 is a small amount, but it is huge to the 27 recipients who are now at the stage where they cannot move forwards or backwards, unless the Minister gives approval.

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