Work on ghost estates pays off

THE number of unfinished housing development or “ghost estates” in the Fingal County Council region has fallen by 92% since 2010, according to figures revealed by Junior Environment Minister Paudie Coffey.
The figures, released as part of the fourth annual progress report on tackling unfinished housing developments, show a decrease from 149 to 12 such estates in Fingal.
Nationally, the figure shows a 76% decrease.
Deputy Alan Farrell (FG) welcomed the drop, saying ghost estates were the most visible scars of the economic crash.
He said: “Now, as the recovery takes hold, these scars are being removed.
“Of the 668 unfinished developments identified in the 2015 survey, Minister Coffey indicated that his objective is to resolve as many more developments as possible, with a particular focus on the 492 of these developments with residents [living there].
“Minister Coffey also intends to engage with the relevant local authorities to explore options on the future viability of unoccupied unfinished developments.”
Minister for Children Dr James Reilly echoed Deputy Farrell’s sentiments, adding that he believed these figures “show Fine Gael’s commitment to increasing the supply of housing, both in Fingal and across the country”.
Cllr Justin Sinnott (Ind) said the turnaround of unfinished housing developments was being driven partly by the shortage of housing supply, which is providing an economic incentive.
He welcomed the fact that these ghost estates were being turned around, but said significant legacy issues remained in many places.
“For example, the handing over of common areas or green spaces – you have that now in Meakstown in Dublin 11. That won’t be reported in those figures
“It is good news that we’re actually seeing ghost estates reducing and unfinished estates are being finished, but there are still legacy issues,” said Cllr Sinnott.
He also said there were a number of other issues with the construction industry in general.
He said there were some in the construction industry who were very focused on lobbying the Government to let them build houses and were more concerned about reducing costs for themselves than in building sustainable communities.
“We’re still picking up the tab for a lot of mistakes made during the last boom,” said Cllr Sinnott.