Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have been asked by my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, to speak on this matter, which concerns almost every Member. I am glad to respond to it.

On behalf of the Government and my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, who has special responsibility in this area, the Minister, Deputy Kelly, is pleased to report that the number of unfinished housing developments nationally has decreased by approximately two thirds since 2010 from nearly 3,000 in 2010 to 992 in 2014. Since 2010, an annual national housing survey of unfinished housing developments has been conducted to monitor and focus progress. The national co-ordination committee on unfinished housing developments, which the Minister of State chairs, drives the implementation of the recommendations of Resolving Ireland's Unfinished Housing Developments - Report of the Advisory Group on Unfinished Housing Developments, which was published in May 2011.

A key contributor to the significant improvement in the situation has been the development of site resolution plans, SRPs. These plans are agreed between residents, developers, funders and local authority personnel for the finalisation of works on site to render estates as habitable as possible. According to the 2014 national housing survey, 587 estates are going through the SRP process.

Budget 2014 contained a special provision in the form of a targeted €10 million special resolution fund, SRF, to assist further in addressing the legacy of unfinished housing developments. The SRF does not replace the predominantly developer-funder-receiver-driven resolution process for unfinished developments, but can complement it. On 2 May, allocations of the €10 million SRF were announced in respect of 86 housing developments. This public investment is expected to leverage an additional investment of €12 million from third parties.

Recognising the urgency of dealing with public safety issues on unfinished developments, the Government also created a €5 million public safety initiative, PSI, in March 2011. A total of 144 estates qualified for and received funding amounting to €3.628 million under this scheme by the end of 2014.

The general scheme of the Planning and Development (No. 2) Bill, which was recently published and is expected to be enacted by the end of this year, proposes to improve and streamline the taking-in-charge process. As part of a wider overhaul of the arrangements in this area, my Department is seeking to determine the number of residential developments with developer-provided stand-alone water treatment systems and-or wastewater treatment plants that are not connected to public water or wastewater networks. A pilot project focusing on the situation in a number of local authority areas is under way and will assist in identifying problems and costing possible solutions.

Notwithstanding all of the initiatives that I have mentioned, it must be accepted that ultimate responsibility for the resolution of unfinished housing developments rests with the owners, developers and receivers. It is a matter for local authorities, using development bonds and other securities and working with the stakeholders, to identify funding and agree works to bring developments to a standard ready for taking in charge. The Government will support their efforts in this regard and the national co-ordination committee will drive collaborative solutions.