Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The bonds were put in place almost as an insurance policy. Where a developer does not complete an estate to a proper standard, they can be drawn down. It is the responsibility of the local authority to ensure that those bonds are put in place in a comprehensive and secure way. It is also the responsibility of the local authority, in the interest of the citizens who live on such estates, to pursue the developers. If the developers have gone off site and cannot be pursued further, the local authority must engage with the credit institutions, banks and insurance firms that are providing those bonds. The local authorities have the power to pursue those and it is their responsibility to do so.

In the planning Bill that will come to the House in the autumn, we hope to strengthen that process and we are open to proposals from the opposite side, including the Deputy's views. I look forward to further engagement at that time on how we can strengthen the hand of local authorities. These are further legacy issues we need to address. We are making strong progress in many estates. Some are outstanding and it is very frustrating, but local authorities must continue to pursue those who are responsible. They cannot always fall back on the taxpayer to bail out the developers who went off-site without finishing the estates. Local authorities have the power to pursue them and those banks have responsibility to pay them also.

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