Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. I am delighted to have the opportunity to appear before the Members of the Seanad. I was here once before. I thank the House for giving me the opportunity to discuss this very important issue. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for the opportunity to outline the background, recent developments and future plans that are in place to ensure clear, decisive and proactive actions are taken to progressively resolve the difficult issues with unfinished housing developments.

These developments have been left in an incomplete and unsatisfactory state principally because of the actions of developers and their funders. With the absence of capital, local authorities and, above all, residents are finding it very difficult to get developers and site owners to meet their legal obligations. Over the course of the past year, the housing and planning divisions of my Department have jointly undertaken extensive work in partnership with local authorities and other key stakeholders to explore how the issue of unfinished or abandoned estates can be tackled in a co-ordinated and pro-active manner. Our focus has been to address the real difficulties being experienced by people living in unfinished estates in towns and villages right across the country.

Resolving these developments will not be easy and will take time. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. The developers and site owners of such developments must accept and take on the primary responsibility for addressing the serious difficulties that have arisen. As Minister of State, I am focusing on a number of actions that will ensure this will take place and will restore confidence in our capacity to deal with unfinished housing developments and help to achieve sustainable urban development.

The fact that the issue so clearly spans across aspects of my remit makes it imperative for me as Minister of State to initiate, encourage and promote all actions necessary to progressively resolve the issues before us. Following the completion of a detailed national survey in late 2010, during which 2,846 housing developments were surveyed, an advisory group on unfinished housing developments was established to bring forward a series of recommendations to address the issues.

On 9 June 2011, I published the final report of the advisory group, entitled Resolving Ireland's Unfinished Housing Developments. The report, prepared by the advisory group and chaired by Mr. John O'Connor of the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency, highlights the scale of the problem, identifies how the developments can be broadly categorised and how the different issues arising in unfinished housing developments can be best dealt with and resolved. I would like to once again take the opportunity to publicly thank Mr. O'Connor and the group for their efforts and dedication.

I also published my Department's response to the advisory group's main recommendations. They include: driving a more co-ordinated and partnership approach between stakeholders; tackling public safety as an immediate priority; strengthening the legislative and policy framework to incentivise real engagement by developers, site owners and funders in working with local authorities and residents in resolving unfinished housing developments; and building confidence in the housing sector.

I outlined a range of collaborative actions to address these objectives. They include: the urgent resolution of public safety and other critical issues seriously impacting on the living conditions and quality of life for residents of unfinished developments; the development of formal liaison protocols between the various stakeholders, such as developers, financial institutions, residents, local authorities, approved housing bodies and my Department, to facilitate the sharing of information; and the prioritisation by local authorities of a number of unfinished developments to act as lead projects to demonstrate what can be achieved, building on the best practice guidance manual on managing and resolving unfinished housing developments, which I will publish shortly.

At the launch of the reports, I highlighted very clearly the need for the various parties to work together in tackling a very serious problem that will take time to resolve. I emphasised that the option of sitting back and doing nothing by developers, banks, local authorities and others is not tenable and is not acceptable to me, the Government and most of all, the residents most affected. I also outlined that the public service is playing a key facilitating role in getting things moving again, particularly in providing leadership in resolving this problem.

Given that resolving urgent public safety works is an immediate priority, I am pleased to note that progress is already being made with regard to the public safety works required to improve the living conditions of existing residents on some unfinished estates. To date, I have made allocations totalling some €1.3 million to 15 local authorities from the €5 million funding allocation made available to address immediate safety issues.

The reduction in drawdown from this fund from previous provisional allocations reflects the fact that planning authorities are already making progress in securing the co-operation of developers, financial institutions and/or bondholders, thereby obviating the need to use Exchequer resources to fund such work. The types of works that have been approved to date include: the fencing off of unsecured and hazardous areas; capping of pipes; installation of street lighting; and other works to secure sites. I will be making further allocations as applications are received from local authorities and assessed by my Department.

It is important that in seeking resolutions to unfinished housing developments we do not overlook the wider housing context. My Department has been pursuing a multi-stranded approach to obtain vacant unsold stock for use as social housing through a long-term leasing initiative that will support the delivery of sustainable communities, including through the leasing or purchase of units from NAMA. It is also important to recognise that whatever mechanisms are used in bringing unoccupied new housing stock into beneficial use, including meeting social housing needs, ensures a good mix of tenure in specific developments.

My primary concern remains the welfare of those who find themselves and their children in a very unsafe environment through no fault of their own. I am determined to ensure that the key stakeholders work together to improve these people's quality of life in the immediate future, while considering what can be done to secure these areas and communities in the longer term.

In response to one of the key recommendations of the advisory group's report regarding the need for central leadership, co-ordination and monitoring, I have established a national co-ordination committee with representation drawn from the key stakeholders involved in progressing resolutions for unfinished estates, including my Department, local authorities, the housing and sustainable communities agency, financial institutions and the construction sector.

I chaired the first meeting of the committee on 28 June 2011 and the second yesterday. We will be meeting on an ongoing basis to oversee implementation with the aim of publishing a report on progress within the next 12 months. The committee is focused on drawing up an implementation plan on the actions identified by my Department on foot of the publication of the advisory group report. The implementation plan will outline how, over the next 12 months, the various recommendations and measures are to be addressed. It will be focused on delivering progress under the advisory group's main recommendations, which I have already outlined, and lead to a report on progress made by next summer.

I again emphasise that the resolution of these developments requires the co-operation of all parties and the adoption of a pragmatic approach. We will continue to focus on resolving these unfinished housing developments now because waiting for the economy or market to change is not an option. Progressive resolution is the only option and not just for the residents but for the stock of developments that exist because these developments are deteriorating day by day. We will work to get houses completed and occupied as soon as possible, but this will require the strong resolve of all the key stakeholders involved.

My Department will continue to prioritise the assessment of funding applications as they are received from local authorities. It is my intention that the majority of the funding allocated will be assigned as soon as possible, allowing for critical safety works to commence in the most serious unfinished housing sites within the coming weeks and months.

I look forward to the forthcoming debate, including constructive suggestions as to how to resolve this serious issue which has bedevilled communities right across the country.