Denis Landy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State who has been present in the Chamber for a lot longer than me this afternoon. I wish to raise two issues with her, the first of which concerns the categorisation of housing estates for the household charge. I have done some work on this issue and it appears as though housing estates were taken in their entirety for this purpose. However, in some parts of the country housing estates were built in a number of tranches and sometimes by different builders. In some cases, the original builder built very good schemes but then sold on one third or half the zoned land with planning permission. Other builders subsequently came in but were not as successful. In some cases, they have flown the country and left a mess behind them. However, I have evidence of specific instances in which, because the majority of houses are perceived to be finished, the estate is included under the global name of the original development. Consequently, the parts that remain unfinished are categorised as being finished and being penalised through the household charge. There must be further scoping in respect of both the methodology used and the actual listings provided through the www.householdcharge.ie website for local authorities regarding the estates that are not liable. Moreover, I note the existence of many other estates that are not liable either but which are not so listed. I hope I have made my point clearly.

I have encountered this phenomenon and it is very difficult. Last Monday evening I entered a housing estate only to witness nothing but housing footings and fencing around part of the estate. The people living in the houses that have been built have been told they must pay the household charge, even though there is no public lighting. Moreover, the sewerage system has had to be taken up completely because the builder did not even understand gravity. He fed it back into, instead of out of, the houses. Consequently, the local authority has been obliged to repair it. Furthermore, among many other things, the roads laid for construction of the building site have not been completed. I ask the Minister of State to comment generally on this issue. If she seeks specific details, I will provide them for her later.