Martin Brady (Fianna Fail)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann welcomes the publication of the draft planning guidelines on sustainable residential development in urban areas and the accompanying best practice urban design manual.

The key policy recommendations in the draft guidelines state:

Development plans, urban local area plans and planning schemes for strategic development zones schemes should contain policies and objectives which will underpin the creation of sustainable residential developments.

They should also include clear guidance on implementation measures, particularly with regard to the phased and co-ordinated provision of physical infrastructure, public transport and community facilities.

This takes in community facilities, public transport and so on.

I represent Donaghmede, which has a projected population over the next eight years of 35,000 people, with 3,500 houses already built. There is another development down the road a couple of miles in Baldoyle. Sports facilities and public transport should be front-loaded but we have the opposite in that area. I am well aware of what is going on there and in Baldoyle, various sports facilities were supposed to be provided a couple of years ago. To date, sports clubs there do not know when the facilities will be finished. The location of pitches has been changed. There is no clear definition on when they will get the facilities or if they will get them at all.

The local authorities, Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council in particular and authorities in general, are not keeping their eye on the ball. Everything seems to be in favour of a developer. For example, a railway station was supposed to be provided two years ago and it is no fault of the developer that it is still not there, as he provided the site, which cost a large amount of money. Iarnród Éireann has fallen down on the job, having held on to a cheque for about a year with nothing happening.

There are cases of developments where there are no community facilities or halls and no sports facilities of any description. Some houses were built but residents discovered about a year later that a substance called pyrite was present, which caused subfloors to lift and walls to crack. When these people go to the builder they are told to talk to HomeBond, and people from HomeBond tell them it is the builder's responsibility. Much money has been spent to engage consultants and so on.

Young people who pay through the nose for these houses should not be left in this type of position. It has come to the stage where this type of incident will have to be addressed by the Minister and proper regulations will have to be put in place to hold these people accountable. We should not dilly-dally.

There are cases where builders have subsidiary companies and people are told to engage with them but when people do this they are referred back to the builder. Games are being played and shortcuts are being taken. In this case and others throughout the country where builders have been caught out buying infill on the cheap, people who paid dearly for houses have to suffer. Schools do not exist either. In some cases, schools to be incorporated into developments are only at the planning stage but that should have been sorted out at a very early stage.

We must have some system to create people-friendly streets and spaces, where provisions can be made for cycling and other facilities of that nature. People should be safe and secure and be able to enjoy the public areas that surround these developments. That is not happening at present as some of these developments are atrocious. We knocked down towers in Ballymun that were six or seven storeys high and other Ballymuns are now being built. In 20 years' time, these will just be ghettoes.

Gangs currently roam these developments in droves at night, burning cars, breaking into houses and so on. This is a result of the way developments are structured and many people believe these places are not safe to live in anymore.

We discussed energy earlier. Builders should be given an incentive to provide solar panels on housing for efficient solar energy. That would go a long way towards helping fight climate change and increasing emissions.

There also should be adequate provision for proper health and medical centres adjacent to these buildings. There should be proper lighting, as this in many cases is not installed until well after the houses are occupied. I have witnessed such examples myself. The ESB is blamed but the ESB blames the developer. The same goes for telecommunications, as people are left high and dry without telephones for about 12 months in some instances because the developer has indicated the place is not cabled.

There is much to be done and we must work in a co-ordinated way to bring together all these service providers and hold them accountable. What is happening currently is not good enough.

I commend the motion and I thank the Acting Chairman for the time.