Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am delighted to have her hear to listen to this case, about which she has heard from me in the corridors of this House, on the telephone and in letters. I ask Deputy O'Sullivan, as Minister of State with special responsibility for housing in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, to specify where responsibility lies and the action that will be taken to support the residents of Oranhill and Oranmore, who number close to 1,000 people, including approximately 500 children, regarding a very dangerous site - a large hole, essentially - in the area and which has been abandoned since 2007. I have frequently described this very large, excavated hole as being more than big enough to sink Leinster House into. It belongs to what I can only describe as an unco-operative owner, although I hope we will see a change in that regard. I understand it is not a NAMA property but a site on which live planning permission exists. Given all of these conditions, can the Minister of State tell me whether the Derelict Sites Act 1990 applies. I have examined everything with regard to this site and it would appear, at every turn, the site and the residents fall between all stools.

This situation has existed since 2007, when a large excavation took place. The original plan was for shops to be built on the site and the excavation was originally carried out in good faith, but of course, we know what happened with the economy since that time. As I said, the Oranhill development comprises 300 units with up to 1,000 residents. The unanimous request from the residents is to have the hole filled in, for health and safety reasons, particularly, as well as for visual reasons and for the sake of other properties in the area. Various engineers' reports support this request. It became an even greater danger during recent bad weather when the flimsy and unsightly hoarding flew off the site, which could have hit a car, pedestrian or child. There is no footpath on one side of the road because of the hole. It is a serious health and safety issue. I have contacted the Health and Safety Authority about this matter but it has no responsibility because the site is not a workplace. Local children recently made a YouTube video about the hole, which has had over 17,000 views to date.

Galway County Council has repeatedly stated that it is its responsibility just to make the hole safe. The Minister of State's office has said the Department is not responsible because the site does not fit into category four of the national housing development survey of 2011, although in my view it fits perfectly into the description of a category four development, which refers to a development which has been effectively abandoned and is posing serious problems for residents. If the Minister of State could conclude that the site fits into that category, that would be a great outcome, and I ask her to consider that seriously.

The owner of the site is unresponsive to correspondence. The site has an active planning permission, renewed in 2011 and which extends to 2016, unfortunately. I have checked the Derelict Sites Act, however, and active planning permission does not mean the site will not qualify under that Act. Nothing has been done with the site. It is effectively abandoned and is posing serious problems for the residents. Everybody is upset about it. Even the children are up in arms about it and have made a YouTube video on the subject. If the site was given category four status, the council could apply for funding to address the immediate public safety concerns at the site. The site should clearly be on the category four list. The whole issue seems to be lost in bureaucracy and an avoidance of responsibility.

I believe the site clearly qualifies as a derelict site under the Derelict Sites Act 1990. Under the legislation, a derelict site means "any land ... which detracts, or is likely to detract, to a material degree from the amenity, character or appearance of land in the neighbourhood of the land in question" because of an unsuitable structure, which one could class the hole as, or because of the "neglected, unsightly or objectionable condition of the land or any structures on the land in question". The site in Oranhill fits into both categories.

If the site was classified as a derelict site, the council would have the right to make the site safe and reclaim any expenses from the owner who has effectively abandoned it, after giving him a written notice and a certain amount of time to act on the site. Through my reading of this Act, responsibility clearly lies with the council to act on this site under the provisions of the Derelict Sites Act.

I have given the Minister of State two proposals today. The first is that she could sort this out by putting the site on the list of category four developments. The second is that the council could sort this out under the Derelict Sites Act. I am at a precipice here, as are the residents of Oranhill. I ask the Minister of State to come up with a solution and to give direction on how best to act so that we can achieve harmony after almost six years.