MAJOR PROGRESS ON UNFINISHED ESTATES SHOWS LABOUR'S REAL IMPACT IN GOVERNMENT

Posted on November 28, 2013 3:39 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Dublin Bay North Labour T.D. Sean Kenny, has said that the second annual progress report on the issue of unfinished housing developments shows yet more progress in dealing with the mess left by the end of the Celtic Tiger housing boom.

"The latest report includes the results from the 2013 National Housing Development Survey, which has been tracking the extent and condition of unfinished housing developments since 2010. Some of the most important findings show a decrease of 56% in the number of unfinished developments since 2010 and a 72% decrease in number of vacant units in remaining unfinished developments since 2010."

"The 2013 National Housing Development Survey shows how Labour in Government has made a real impact on the issue of unfinished housing developments and ghost estates. There are now 1,258 unfinished developments and Minister Jan O'Sullivan, who has been working extremely hard on this issue, has said that her objective is to move the issue to a conclusion. I know there will be a particular focus in relation to the 992 developments with residents."

"In the case of some developments where these options are not available to local authorities, a €10 million allocation to the Site Resolution Fund announced in the budget earlier this year will be used to incentivise the resolution process. Around 40 developments may not be viable in any long term context and the best solution for them would be to return the sites to what they were before any development started, and it may be the case that further developments will in time be deemed unviable and subject to the same treatment. The identification of these developments and their partial or full removal, will serve as a signal that the Government has tackled the residual problems presented by the property crash."

"Minister O'Sullivan has said that she hopes that the majority of the remaining key tasks would be completed in the coming year, and I too would hope to see finality brought to all of these issues in that time. It would be fantastic to see a report next year stating that the physical mess of unfinished and ghost estates have been resolved by this Government, and I know Minister O'Sullivan will be working to ensure that this is the case."