Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 531: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on what qualifies as an unfinished housing estate; if houses affected in the past number of years by pyrite issues will qualify for an exemption from the household tax; if he will provide a list of unfinished housing estates; if he will provide a list of what qualifies as an unfinished housing estate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41220/11]

John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 546: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if homes affected by pyrite will be exempt form the household charge. [41412/11]

Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 578: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if home owners currently living in pyrite affected homes in an unfinished development (details supplied) will be exempt form the household charge. [1391/12]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 585: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the criteria for exemption from the household charge for unfinished estates and those affected by pyrite; and if such estates in north east Dublin (details supplied) will be exempt from the charge. [1487/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 531, 546, 578 and 585 together.

I understand the difficult and challenging situation faced by householders, who through no fault of their own, have to contend with the consequences of pyrite in their homes.

I have established an independent Panel with the remit of seeking to facilitate a resolution of pyrite contamination in private housing. The Panel is progressing its work and I have asked the Chairperson of the Panel to complete this task as quickly as possible and submit a report to me early in 2012.

I will give further consideration to the position of owners of certain pyrite affected houses upon receipt of the Panel's Report. In this regard, I will also need to consider issues surrounding the identification of relevant problematic properties. The Local Government (Household Charge) Regulations 2012 contain the list of unfinished estates to which a waiver from payment of the household charge applies in 2012. The list is also available from www.householdcharge.ie.

The relevant circumstances to which I, as Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, must have regard in prescribing the list for the purposes of the unfinished estates waiver are set out in section 4 (5) of the Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011.