Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Just over a week ago I visited the Gleann Riada estate to hear at first hand the concerns of residents. Gleann Riada estate is an isolated estate that is located approximately one mile outside Longford town and does not have public transport links. I was taken aback by the litany of problems encountered by residents. There are slightly more than 80 dwellings housing approximately 300 men, women and children. Most residents have shared ownership and council mortgages, with nine of them in receipt of rent supplement.

As the Minister of State is aware, Gleann Riada is an unfinished estate on which a full block of apartments was pulled down earlier this year. The homes were built on a flood plain and the developer availed of section 23 tax exemptions. Two explosions in houses in the past seven months are suspected to be the result of leaking sewer gases caused by the insufficient and substandard sewerage network on the estate.

There is a terrible smell of sewage and other noxious gases, which has resulted in a large number of visits to local GPs for residents, who have missed work or school as a consequence. Residents throughout the estate report high rates of illness, and they are clear about who they believe is responsible. Local GPs are backing up these claims and are reporting higher rates of illness in Gleann Riada compared to other estates. There is visible subsidence under paths, shores and boundaries around the dwellings. One row of buildings which I am told should not have been occupied was occupied but it had no suitable fire escape. All it had was a door which led to a one-storey drop; the door was in place but there was no visible way out.

I visited a couple of the houses where gas monitors were in place. There was a very bad smell of sewage. The HSE and the local authorities have advised people living in these houses in what it has deemed as an unsafe estate to keep their windows open. Families struggling to make ends meet in what has become a living hell are being told, as winter sets in, to keep their windows open. These families are afraid to turn on the heating or light fires, cookers or even a cigarette for fear of another explosion. The HSE has said it is unsafe, yet people are still moving into the estate on rent supplement from the HSE. The State is actually subsidising the endangerment of these people.

The families are asking to be evacuated and accommodated elsewhere until the issues are resolved for once and for all. Is the Minister aware that the HSE has said this is an unfit and unsafe estate? Is he aware the estate was built on a flood plain? Is he aware that the HSE and Longford County Council have asked residents to keep their windows, doors and vents open, not to light fires and to smoke outside? I visited some of these houses. The chimneys are not properly secured, paths are sinking, the sewerage systems are substandard, and there are no proper radon layers.

I have a number of questions for the Minister. Who signed off on this estate? Why is the HSE continuing to offer rent supplement in the estate? Is the Minister aware that a HSE primary care centre has been built in a neighbouring field in the same flood plain? That primary care centre is essential for Longford, but why was it built in that location on a flood plain? What were the criteria used to make that decision? What investigations have been carried out into the standards that applied in this regard with planners and others in Longford County Council?

Having visited this estate and spoken to the residents about all the issues that have been raised, I am of the view that it should be evacuated. I ask the Minister to give us some indicator as to what can be done here and not kick the issue to touch to the local authority or elsewhere because this is a very serious issue.

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. An explosion occurred within a private house - one of a terrace of six houses - in the Gleann Riada development in Longford in March of this year. Subsequently, Longford County Council appointed a firm of consulting engineers, Tobin Consultants, to investigate the causes of the explosion. The specific findings of the report from Tobin Consultants have been made available to residents of the terrace in Gleann Riada, in addition to general advice which was made available to other residents of the estate. Longford County Council has established a steering group to address the range of issues faced by the occupants of the Gleann Riada development and is liaising with the other State authorities involved including, inter alia, the Health and Safety Authority.

Given that this matter is currently the subject of legal action it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time, save to note that the Minister is aware of a second explosion having occurred in this development earlier this month and is following developments in respect of this estate closely. Unfortunately, the issues faced by the residents of the Gleann Riada development are a severe example of the legacy problems this Government inherited on a national basis in regard to unfinished housing developments throughout the State.

The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, is leading the Government's work on tackling this issue. She is chairing the national co-ordination committee on unfinished housing developments to oversee implementation of the report of the advisory group on unfinished housing developments, together with the Government's response to the recommendations. The committee comprises representatives from the banking sector, the local authorities, NAMA and the construction sector, as well as from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, considers that harnessing these various areas of expertise in a collaborative approach will result in the most effective resolution of the issues we face, many of which were set out by the Deputy.

Outputs from this committee so far include the preparation of a guidance manual, Managing and Resolving Unfinished Housing Developments, published in August 2011; the preparation of a key stakeholders' code of practice and a residents' guide, both published last week; overseeing a public safety initiative which provides funding support of €5 million; improved national and local co-ordination through the City and County Managers' Association; engagement and co-ordination of initiatives with NAMA; engagement with the banking sector through the Irish Banking Federation; and reviewing best practice initiatives and progress on the preparation of site resolution plans nationally. The committee is meeting on a regular basis with the aim of publishing a report on progress achieved within the next 12 months. In the meantime, work is ongoing on implementation of the report of the advisory group and real progress is already being made with regard to the public safety works required to improve the living conditions of existing residents in some unfinished estates. The Government is very much alive to the issues that have been raised by the Deputy.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I do not blame the Government for what has happened in this case. It did not happen on this Government's watch but on the watch of a previous Government in recent years when there was a lack of regulations, control, checks and balances.

This is a serious issue. The reports I have from people living in the estate as to what is happening, the state of some of the houses, and the fact that a second explosion occurred within a short time after the previous one indicates that there is something seriously wrong in the estate. The gap is so big one can see underneath the houses, and it is clear the ground is sinking. It is built on a swamp.

That brings me to another issue. The HSE rented a field beside this estate and put a new primary care centre, which nobody disputes is badly needed for the Longford area, in it. I cannot understand how that got past the planners, the inspectors and all the different regulations because this is only a recent event. It is a mile from the town. There is no proper public transport. How this site was chosen baffles me but someone must answer for that.

Studies have been done on the prolonged effects of the gases that have been identified, and there are monitors in these houses. They have serious effects. That is the reason we are getting reports of people suffering from nausea and headaches, and it is the reason there is an increase in illnesses. Doctors locally have verified that a higher proportion of people are sick in that estate than elsewhere.

I am aware there is a court case going on but when everything else fails, the Government must come forward and sort out these problems. That is what I am asking the Minister to do. When that court case and a number of other issues are settled, this matter will end up back in the Minister's lap and we will need action because the people in this estate cannot live in these conditions. The children are being put in serious danger. I plead with the Minister, when we get to the next stage, to take urgent action.

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I note again the points the Deputy has made in his rejoinder. Like him, the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, is committed to resolving what is a spectrum of issues that have arisen not only in regard to Gleann Riada, which is the one the Deputy has raised, but the problems being experienced nationally by residents in unfinished housing developments, which is an acute and difficult issue.

Under the public safety initiative for unfinished housing developments, the Department has made allocations totalling €3.38 million to 21 local authorities from the funding made available to address immediate public safety issues. The works approved to date include the fencing off of unsecured and hazardous areas, capping of pipes, installation of street lighting and other works to secure sites. In respect of the development at Gleann Riada, Longford, the Department approved funding totalling €91,753 in August to cover the cost of addressing immediate public safety concerns there. Developments in 20 other local authority areas have also been supported under the public safety initiative.

The first annual progress report of the national co-ordination committee on unfinished housing developments, NCC, published by the Department on 5 July, confirmed that significant progress had been made nationally on the issue. While 2,876 estates had been identified as unfinished in the previous baseline survey, this number had been reduced to 2,066. It should be noted, however, that not all of these developments are seriously problematic, although many are. The Minister anticipates this progress will be reflected in the 2012 national housing development survey now under way. The results of that survey are expected later in the year.