Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for being here again and am glad to welcome him. It is unusual to have the opportunity to speak on draft guidelines. That is something my colleague and I have already discussed. It is useful because it will highlight to the general public, during the consultative process, what we are actually discussing, and I hope it will be covered in the media. Sadly, however, today is not a busy day for the media around here.

I will mention first the issue of taking in charge of housing estates. The Minister has issued in conjunction with the residential design guidelines a document concerning the taking in charge of residential estates. I welcome this because this issue has been the cause of major problems across the country. All the recommendations mentioned in the document are being implemented in my area, County Westmeath. How can we be stricter in enforcing all of these recommendations? There is the idea of having pre-planning meetings with developers and ensuring developments conform to the design agreed at the planning stage. The Minister also alludes to obtaining adequate bonds, but that has been the policy of Westmeath County Council for years. However, due to inflation, the bonds attached to some housing estates will never be adequate to pay for the deficits in provision that have been left for the poor unfortunates who have bought houses in these decrepit estates. The county councils have to pick up the tab for these developers, sometimes after 20 years. I know of a number of such housing estates around the country, not just in my own county.

In his document, the Minister states, "In relation to older estates, priority must continue to be placed on resolving those estates that have been left unfinished/not taken in charge for the longest period." That is a very obvious statement and I am sure the Minister is hearing about this issue from many public representatives around the country. The question is what we are to do about this. A housing estate should not be handed over to the poor unfortunate buyers who have taken out exorbitant mortgages unless it is ready for habitation. While the Minister's aspiration to discuss these issues at design and pre-planning stage is good, the developers will not comply with this. Unless the housing estate is ready and the residents are satisfied with the lighting, pathways, roads and sewerage system, the latter of which can cause major problems, the developer should not receive any money until the council is satisfied. If I do not make any other point here today I will make this one, because it is the most important.

I also wish to mention connectivity for small towns and villages. I refer particularly to a village in Westmeath called Killucan, which contains a massive number of houses. Ballymahon in County Longford is another such village. There are no facilities and no transport provisions. Killucan is not included in Transport 21. My colleague Senator Coffey spoke about the HSE and education, and I mention transport in the same context. There is a railway station in Killucan that is left unattended and empty although thousands of people spend two hours every morning commuting to Dublin. It is the same with Athlone; there is a perfectly good rail link between Athlone and Mullingar that is disused. I ask the Minister to investigate both of these transport issues which, if resolved, would result in a considerable improvement in connectivity.