Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Harte for raising this matter, which is very important in his part of the country and Letterkenny in County Donegal in particular. It is important to the affected residents.

A development which has not been completed in accordance with the planning permission is unauthorised development and may be subject to planning enforcement. These provisions apply to all residential developments, whether they are to be managed by a management company. In so far as the taking in charge of residential developments is concerned, section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides that, where an estate is completed to the satisfaction of the planning authority in accordance with the planning permission, and any conditions attached to the permission, the planning authority must initiate taking in charge procedures as soon as possible following a request to do so by the developer or by the majority of the owners. Similarly, where an estate has not been completed to the standard outlined in the planning permission and the planning authority has not taken enforcement action within the appropriate period, section 180 also provides that the planning authority must initiate taking-in-charge procedures if requested to do so by the owners of the units concerned. The decision as to whether an estate should be taken in charge is ultimately one for the elected members of the planning authority.

Section 180 was amended in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 to provide that a planning authority may take in charge an unfinished estate at any time after the expiration of the planning permission, in situations where enforcement actions have failed or the authority has not taken enforcement action. Planning authorities were also specifically empowered in the 2010 Act to take in charge part of an estate, or some but not all of the facilities in an estate. Housing estates and apartment developments not taken in charge normally remain private developments until such time as the owners of such developments take the necessary steps to have the development taken over by the relevant local authority.

Where, as the Senator has suggested, in regard to a number of developments in the areas mentioned, a receiver has been appointed by a financial institution, the receiver assumes the obligations of the developer. In this case, because the receiver has been appointed and given the scale of the development, the receiver in this case is the de facto developer and the owner of the development in law and in terms of the existing planning and development Acts. It then becomes a matter for the receiver and the institution to consider what steps they may wish to take to complete the development and have it taken in charge. This may include the realisation of assets on other sites within the control of the overall group in receivership to fund any necessary works.

I apologise for the absence of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan. I suggest a transcript of the Senator's contribution be sent to him to see what further action, if any, can be taken by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in its dealings with Donegal County Council. In this instance, the first port of call is the local authority. The county council's relationship - of whatever description - with the receiver who, effectively, has become the de facto owner of the site and the units on it still has to be clarified.