Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that the Planning and Development Act locates this as a local authority issue but that is of little consolation to the thousands of people affected. Families and homeowners with whom I have been in contact in towns such as Clonakilty, Kinsale and Skibbereen are being left in limbo and somebody needs to step up to help them. The infrastructure in their housing estate is either deficient or deteriorating and the original developer in many cases is no longer around. The local authority is refusing to take responsibility for the estate until existing issues, which would cost tens of thousands of euro to rectify, are resolved.

Currently, there is no way out for these families. After years of campaigning, and in a piecemeal fashion, some of these issues eventually get solved.

The situation is compounded by the families having to pay property tax but not receiving services that they need. That is not good enough. As Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, what will Deputy Peter Burke do to help resolve the issue?

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