John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

In excess of 2,800 housing developments were identified where construction had commenced but had not yet been completed. It was wrong for some of the media commentators to characterise every one of the developments inspected by my Department as a so-called "ghost estate", a phrase which was constantly used. Such reporting is not just incorrect, it is sometimes irresponsible. As the detail of the survey shows, many of the developments have been completed, are fully occupied and perhaps have only minor completion issues outstanding, such as the provision of a final road surface.

Some 147 developments in the survey are fully completed but less than 10% of the completed units are occupied and 50% of the development surveyed are quite small, comprising 30 dwellings or less, with 25% comprising 10 dwellings or less. There are 1,050 developments which are potentially of concern because they are developments which are substantially incomplete but have significant occupancy. They are the ones the Deputy is most concerned about and I understand that.

Considering that there are approximately 1,000 substantially incomplete but significantly occupied developments, further analysis will reveal that the smaller proportion of these developments, probably in the region of 200 to 300, are in particular distress and are causing most concern. Distressed developments are those in which a developer or a receiver acting on behalf of the financial institution is not present and addressing outstanding completion issues. We have to ensure that the expert group, to which I referred, will actively pursue the issue and develop practical and policy solutions to ensure a satisfactory resolution of unfinished housing developments, and particularly the category to which I referred which includes people who are in particular distress.

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