URGENT ACTION is required to prevent Ireland’s 2,800 unfinished housing estates becoming havens for vermin and anti-social behaviour, according to Irish Rural Link.
The vast majority of unfinished housing estates are in rural towns and villages and are unsuitable for social housing needs, according to the chief executive of Irish Rural Link Séamus Boland.
“The problem is where the people are, the houses aren’t, and where the houses are, the people aren’t,” he said.
“If you look at rural areas around the country, the houses were built to attract people, sometimes in terms of second-home ownership. And of course for all the migrants who were coming into Ireland who were going to rent all these houses. All of that is gone.”
Mr Boland said new legislation should be drafted to deal with the issues surrounding ownership and bankruptcy. “We would argue that the other people: the county councils, local authorities, Nama and, of course, the banks – we would be very concerned that the same urgency as shown by the Government with those agencies is shown here because they own the keys and the legal keys.”
Mr Boland was speaking at an Irish Rural Link seminar on unfinished housing estates at its headquarters in Moate, Co Westmeath, yesterday.
The meeting was attended by members of the public and councillors from across the State.
Irish Rural Link policy and communication officer Helen Dunne said any action taken on housing estates would have to be done with the assistance of residents and stakeholders. She said information and proposals presented at the seminar would be put to the Government for consideration.
Among the proposals was a suggestion that Fás trainees use the properties for training purposes.
There was also talk of rolling out pilot projects where community groups, former developers and local authorities could combine to tackle the problems.
Another suggestion involved selling serviced sites on the estates.
Assistant planner with Clare County Council and member of the Irish Planning Institute Emma Pillion said each case had to be dealt with on its own merits.
While insisting liability should be turned back on developers, she questioned the role of the courts in resolving issues with unfinished estates. She said legal proceedings were costly, time-consuming and frustrating for all involved.
Architect Emer Ó Siochrú said: “These developers are in debt, forget about the developers, they don’t have any money. The banks should and will own these estates.”
Many participants believed their communities would be willing to get involved if proper support was forthcoming. However, build quality remained a major concern for many.
Ms Ó Siochrú claimed there had been a laissez faire attitude to building regulations in the past.
In attempting to find solutions to the problem, Irish Rural Link has been looking to other countries with similar issues.
Mr Boland said: “The solution always seems to be the government effectively takes control and effectively knocks them down in most cases; that seems to be the solution. We haven’t come across solutions where the community and residents got involved.”
The Department of the Environment will issue a guidance manual on unfinished estates next week.