Caít Keane (Fine Gael)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach le haghaidh díospóireacht ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo. I commend the Minister of State on his very proactive approach since taking up office in introducing proposals on housing estates. I am referring to the advisory group he established which eventually led to the publication of the report, Resolving Ireland's Unfinished Housing Developments. Having read the report, I recognise a considerable amount of work remains to be done and the Minister of State outlined in his speech some of the initiatives he has taken.

The prevalence of these housing developments is a very tangible and concrete remnant of what was termed the boom times or the Celtic tiger, which we now know was not a tiger, but a tiger running away, with the houses built on very shaky foundations, as it were, which have now collapsed. We need to ensure this kind of thing will never hit this country again, not only on the economic side but also on the planning and development side. In his contribution the Minister of State referred to the payment of €1.3 million of the €5 million allocated in the first tranche for dealing with the most problematic unfinished housing developments.

When he launched the report in June, he expressed some concern about the feedback from local authorities on unfinished developments and getting positive engagement from developers, site owners, financial institutions and others dealing with the issue. I thank the Minister of State for chairing the advisory committee. Has he received satisfactory co-operation? There was strong consensus in the advisory group on what should be done. It is important that the various stakeholders involved in the troubled developments, including banks, developers and departmental officials, should roll up their sleeves and work with the local authorities and residents involved. I know the priority for the Minister of State at the moment is the immediate safety element and he outlined some of the issues he is pursuing in the problematic estates. The previous speaker spoke about the issues we have all seen. I have come across people who are crying because they are living in building sites- they could not be called housing estates. We must ask what we can do to resolve the problems they are living with as quickly as we can.

Representatives of NAMA addressed the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party recently. I hope NAMA is placing the same priority on the issue as the Minister of State. It has a major role to play in the estates that are under its control rather than the control of the Minister of State. How is that agency co-operating with the Minister of State? In theory the €5 million allocated to address immediate safety issues is to be paid back eventually by the developers, but I would not hold my breath. We need to find money but I do not know where. Obviously there is work that can be done without money. There are unemployed builders whom we could bring in to work with us on some schemes. There is more than one way to skin a cat. I ask the Minister of State to pursue every avenue. When I was first elected to a local authority in 1991, we often talked about rogue builders not finishing estates. That was at a time when they had plenty of money, yet they often walked off without finishing an estate, leaving the local authority with problems. It is not just rogue builders with whom we are dealing. There was reckless lending to builders and to others.

The Minister of State said that along with the advisory committee he was keeping an eye on how things are moving with local authorities. He mentioned the national co-ordination committee and said he would have a report in 12 months. I look forward to receiving a detailed report outlining where we are at this time. We are not talking about regeneration of estates; it is just a stopgap. We have been required to step in and do something because we cannot wait for the builders to do it. Evidence indicates that regeneration must be people focused. The people suffering in these estates often need more than just the physical environment because many of them have also lost their jobs. While I commend the Minister of State on making safety his paramount priority, I hope the advisory committee will also provide for support on the social aspect. That should be borne in mind for people who are abandoned or in distraught situations when the Minister of State is prioritising future funding for ghost estates.

Necessary action needs to be taken to address those estates because we do not want in five years' time to have some of the social problems we have seen in certain urban areas as a result of bad planning. Planning as a whole needs to be people focused. The previous speaker gave some statistics and I will outline one of them. Leitrim had 91 houses built per 1,000 of population, which was almost three times the number for County Wicklow at 31 per 1,000 of population or Dublin at 33 per 1,000 of population. Such building was led by tax breaks and did not represent sustainable development. I heard the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Hogan, say that sustainable development in planning is a priority for the Government, on which I commend them. There is an impact on residents from bad planning, and the planners and banks need to be and are being reined in.

The Minister of State has said this is the beginning, but we need to get it resolved and the previous speaker spoke about the resolution. We find ourselves in a unique situation. Often in the past when we were talking about unfinished housing estates, we might have been talking about one or two developers, which is why the Planning and Development Act 2000 introduced the legislation on rogue developers. We are now dealing with a national disaster with these houses, not only in the funding but also in planning. The Minister of State mentioned some of the initiatives on which he is working with the Department of Social Protection. Houses represent a valuable asset, regardless of whether they are half constructed or fully constructed. Many people have asked what will happen to those estates and whether they will be knocked down. I believe demolition would be a resolution of last resort because many people need houses. In his contribution, the Minister of State mentioned the different types of facilities he is considering. I hope the upcoming report will outline where we will go from here.

I believe the Minister of State said that 15 local authorities had taken up the option of dealing with it, with immediate plans for public safety. The management companies in some unfinished estates have simply pulled off site and left the residents high and dry. What is the status of legislation on management companies? The advisory group reported that 2,846 developments were surveyed, of which 58% had substantial construction work. As we do not know where we can find money, we need innovative ways to address the issue. Within the 1,655 developments, there is a further cohort of developments with serious completion issues and residents are significantly affected. While not everybody in the House might have dealt with it in person, we have definitely all seen it on television. However, we do not need to see it on television because every second person in the country is talking about it as well.

With regard to the taking in charge by local authorities of housing estates, naturally enough, local authorities cannot take them in charge because they do not have the funding and are strapped for cash. This brings me to the issue of planning enforcement. When we talk about completion, planning enforcement is a priority. Builders should not be allowed to move on with a development until they have finished, say, ten or 15 houses to a high standard. Planning enforcement should be done in such a way that it is seen as better to have ten units finished than to have 500 half-finished, where a developer has said he can build 500 units cheaper but then runs away from the whole lot.

This is not a completely new problem but it is a serious problem none the less. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose, for attending and for his proactive approach to addressing this matter in a very short time.