Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The National Housing Development Survey, published by the Ministers of State, Deputy Cuffe and Deputy Finneran, is an important, welcome and much-needed report. It eliminates the unsubstantiated rumours of what had occurred in some housing developments. Having said that, the survey's results are alarming.

A housing development, by definition, comprises two or more dwellings set out in free-standing, semi-detached, terraced, duplex or apartment format. A special advisory group was set up to tackle the issue of ghost estates and offer solutions to the problem. With more than 2,800 ghost estates in the country, this was a welcome step. The group comprises members of NAMA, central and local government, the banking and construction sectors, and architecture, planning and engineering institutes. All have an important role to play in this.

One glaring omission from the group was the residents of these ghost estates. They should have been included to introduce the consumer aspect into the group's deliberations. While many of these ghost estates are partially occupied, the local authorities will not take them over, making it difficult for those living in them.

Senator Mooney claimed there will be a quick uptake of these houses when demand returns. How long do we have to wait for that? Demand may not return for up to ten years and the outlook for the quality of life for residents in many of these unfinished estates is shocking.

Dwellings considered complete by the survey are not necessarily so as the finer details of building regulations and planning permission may have been overlooked. Dwellings without outstanding works such as individual electricity supplied to a property are not considered major works and are, therefore, considered complete. Housing developments completed three or more years ago that have up to 10% of dwellings unoccupied have not been included in the report either.

In many ways, the survey is an understatement. Fingal County Council has 125 ghost estates with Balbriggan especially badly affected with 2,809 unoccupied dwellings, including the Hastings estate with 120 and Hampton Gardens with 998. There are 6,700 households on the housing list in Fingal, so that potential must be explored in whatever way it can. The director of Fingal's housing services department, Mr. Dick Brady, is a creative thinker on these matters and I know he will bring forwards solutions. We must try to match this oversupply of houses in ghost estates with the more than 7,000 people on the waiting list. Unfinished houses must be completed in some way.

Innovation is required in this regard and the social housing list can be greatly reduced if these occupied houses are utilised. It is unacceptable, however, to say that everything will be fine when demand returns. I look forward to some creativity from this high level expert group. The Minister of State should try to ensure the consumer's voice is represented on that body.