Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----call for a debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, on the issue of ghost estates, but I do so from another angle. For weeks, I have discussed builders, developers, planners, county councillors, estate agents, accountants and architects, particularly in the context of Priory Hall. Not one of them has been brought to book. We all attended the Lower House and listened while €10 million was handed out to the residents of Priory Hall, and rightly so. They had nowhere to live after buying apartments that had not been built properly. Answers must be given. The Minister of State must tell the Seanad why no one has been brought to book when, at the same time, the public is constantly expected to put up with austerity and losing money and work. I call for the Minister of State to tell the House what is happening with the ghost estates and why so many people who have no houses still have nowhere to go even though they have been on lists for years. This is approximately the fifth time that I have asked for this explanation. We are half-lemmings to dole out money to the people who have caused these problems before they walked away.