David Norris (Independent)

However, they have not yet been addressed and the Labour Party motion outlines the current factual position. It would be much better for both sides to agree rather than this appalling business whereby we are still in the middle of this crisis playing at logic chopping and political partisan point scoring. There is nothing in the Labour Party motion that could not have the words of the amendment in the name of Senator Cassidy attached to it in order to create a composite motion. I see no problem with the Government's amendment because it is so pathetically weak. It notes this and that, welcomes the potential to do something else, and commends the intention and the potential role of other things. It is all pie in the sky and would not detract from the Labour Party motion. If the Government wants the respect of the people it should stop playing this stupid game of party politics and agree a composite motion. We can then get together to address this serious problem facing the country.

I commend Senator McFadden on proposing that there should be social housing for single men, which has long been a problem. We should be able to solve at least some of it using this housing stock especially given that, as any person with any contact with the market will say and as covered on a radio programme over the weekend, people will not buy one-bedroom apartments. Some tricksters of property developers, who are now appropriately in trouble, specialise in building one-bedroom units. They brought in a transient population because nobody wants to stay in them or have a family in them. Nobody will develop a relationship with a community living in a one-bedroom apartment. On the other hand, single people, particularly single men, might well be grateful to get them.

I know there is a kind of antagonism to the phrase "ghost estates". I see the Minister of State, Deputy Cuffe, nodding and perhaps he will say something about this. The problem is that we are lumbered with the phrase in the same way that we are lumbered with phrases such as "boy racers" and "free fees", which is an oxymoron. They may be inappropriate and ugly, but they are there and people use them so we need to work with it. These estates are in different states of completion or non-completion, but there is no point in railing against the idea of calling them ghost estates. It may not be an exactly accurate scientific description, but it is there.

There is a question as to whether it might be better to demolish some of them and perhaps a partial demolition might be appropriate because of the decay. First, it is very depressing for people to have bought a house and see a large section - one third or even half an estate - decaying around them. It is also unsanitary with infestations of vermin such as rats, children exposed to danger because they will break into it, and the danger of fire; I need not go on. We need to consider whether on balance it would be better to complete or pull down and at least remove some of the visible aspects of blight.

The scale of the problem is significant. I am happy to commend the Government on establishing the national survey, which at least gives us fairly stark facts to deal with. There are 43,000 empty or unfinished units in 34 local authority areas. The Cork County Council area has by far the largest number of ghost estates - I apologise for using that term, but it is in the briefing I have - with 284 unfinished or substantially vacant developments. It is followed by Wexford with 180, Fingal and Kerry with 152 each, 147 in Cavan and 104 in Louth. Much of this follows the pattern of areas with defective planning permissions granted. In the number of planning permissions overturned on appeal, Donegal was the worst and it was also among the worst in terms of the developments. In Donegal, 60% of planning permissions were overturned and Cavan had nearly 40%. Those are astonishing figures, which reflect a dangerous practice in that they considered only their own selfish parochial or party interest in their planning decisions. I commend the Green Party on having a useful impact on Government in tidying up some of these planning aspects, but we were left with the historical detritus of it. Some 2,846 developments were inspected and only 429, 15%, were active. Some 78,195 dwellings were complete and occupied.

A total of 23,250 dwellings were complete and vacant, 9,976 dwellings were near complete and 9,854 dwellings were at various early stages of construction activity. These are very serious figures.

I wish to return to a matter I raised on the Order of Business about school construction. A serious situation has been caused by the collapse of Pierse Contracting and Pierse Building Services which has left between 2,000 and 3,000 smaller sub-contractors in the lurch. There is money in the Department of Education and Skills which should be used to complete these contracts, as Wexford County Council has decided to do with a half-abandoned Pierse construction site in Wexford. Why not reactivate the National Building Agency? Using the evidence from this survey the Minister, could decide whether it is appropriate to use the National Building Agency or something similar to employ many of the unemployed building workers to complete those housing estates which appear to have a prospect of being sold or which would have some socially beneficial use.

At the beginning of this financial crisis I suggested, although no one took any notice, that we should consider the possibility of establishing a Department for home security, not homeland security, which would try to secure people in their homes in the context of defaulting on mortgages and so forth. When we have this blight of ghost estates, difficulty in the construction industry and queues and backlogs in waiting lists for social housing, the idea of creating a Department with that specific focus should be examined again.