Mark Dearey (Green Party)

I wish to pick up on some of the themes addressed by Senator Hannigan. I welcome his support and that of his party for this document which establishes baselines. With the problems we encountered associated with the financial crash, the property crash that followed and the legacy of ghost estates, the starting point is the question of how many and where? While the figures associated with the banking crisis are horrendous, perversely there is relief in knowing in order that we can estimate an annual cost. That is useful. In the case of this topic, we are out of the arena of anecdote and into the arena of researched facts and figures for over-lending for the housing market and the over-reliance on construction which accounted for 24% of economic activity at one point. The report does not make for comfortable reading and, as Senator Hannigan pointed out, the cost of remedying the problem and the range of remedies that must be applied on a case by case and county by county basis must be addressed. I hope the report will act as a platform for action. The expert group which will be drawn together gives grounds for some optimism in that regard. The issue is not being examined through the lens of finance or as an effort to redeem bad lending practices engaged in by the banks. It is not being viewed as an opportunity to provide social housing, although I welcome the fact that some properties will ultimately be used to provide such housing. It is being considered as an amalgam of all these aspects. The make-up of the expert group recommends itself to me and I look forward to its findings.

County councils need the findings made. From county managers down, they do not have a clue what to do with the unsightly and dangerous pre-developed sites, unfinished estates, unsold houses and, in some cases, vandalised houses used as a post-Celtic tiger playground by neighbourhood kids. I thought the scenes in "Pure Mule", the fantastic RTE drama series set in the early days following the bust, were a fantastic visual metaphor for where we found ourselves. The locations around Banagher were brilliantly chosen. Two years before we started talking about it, they visually represented what the boom had left us with. I am conscious of the wonderful libraries, the road network and the public transport infrastructure, but it has also left us with this problem.

The issue of bonds is important when we consider the question of costs and the ways in which the problem must be dealt with. There is anecdotal evidence that bonds were insufficient, that they were rolled over, that they were inaccessible and that the banks are arguing the toss on whether county councils and town councils should have access to them to remedy the problem of unfinished estates. We need a degree of honesty, not least on the part of the banks, the record of which in recent years in protecting themselves at the cost of the truth has been abysmal. We cannot let this continue. We need frankness in terms of what is available to local authorities. In many cases, they have entered into inadequate arrangements in respect of the size of the bond per house. The resource must be used when the recommendations of the expert group are presented.

I am painfully aware of where this prevails in Dundalk. It does not matter how typical the story is because if one lives in one of these unfinished estates, it is total misery. The lack of a top surface means drains protrude and one must drive around them every time one enters and leaves an estate. An abandoned playground was fenced off and surfaced, but no toys or slides were supplied. This is a poignant reminder of the dream many people were sold and bought into. In the case of one estate which I will not name, the marketing campaign was extremely seductive. The language of fashion was used to sell houses. Like the clothing industry, however, the fashion items were out of date in double-quick time. Now people are regretting the decision and they blame policy and themselves. I do not blame them. People were sold a pup in many cases.