Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 451: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the date on which he will publish the national audit report in respect of unfinished housing estates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35894/10]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 462: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the obligations on local authorities to ensure that services and infrastructure are provided in estates where the developers either cannot or will not complete works; his plans to address the problems that arise in these estates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36309/10]

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 451 and 462 together.

I refer to the replies to Question Nos. 364, 365 and 372 of 5 October, 2010.

Together with my colleague, Minister of State Finneran, I will, as soon as possible, publish the results of a national inventory to quantify, classify and map the various types of unfinished or unoccupied estates so as to facilitate a better understanding of the scale and extent of the problem, along with proposed measures to address difficulties on specific sites in a co-ordinated manner. The responses will require a range of interventions across a number of disciplines – there are issues of public safety, the provision of bonds and securities, environmental protection, building control and estate management.

In relation to taking-in-charge of estates, section 59 of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010, which was commenced on 5 October 2010, amends section 180 of the Principal Act and includes a number of provisions related to unfinished estates. In particular, it introduces a new provision to provide that a planning authority may take in charge an unfinished estate, at the request of the owners of the housing units, at any time after the expiration of the planning permission, in situations where enforcement actions have commenced or where the planning authority consider that enforcement action will not result in the satisfactory completion of the estate by the developer. Planning authorities have also been empowered to take in charge part of an estate or some, but not all, of the facilities in an estate.