Plans to demolish vacant homes on ghost estates despite long local authority housing waiting lists.
Half built houses exist in approximately thirteen hundred uncompleted housing estates across Ireland. Forty such sites have been earmarked for demolition next year by Minister for Housing Jan O'Sullivan.
Despite there being almost 100,000 people on local authority housing waiting lists, vacant homes on estates such as these will not adequately cater for their needs. Dr Lorcan Sirr who lectures in Housing Studies at the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) explains, these properties were,
Built in areas where there was no housing demand and where there is little or no employment opportunities for people.
Councillors need to change their concept of development, believes Seán Brosnan of the Dingle Sustainable Development Group,
We need a landscape policy for our country that puts scenery protection right at its heart.
One in five ghost estates in Ireland are completely unoccupied. The majority of them are owned by developers and banks. Many owners are already in talks with local authorities to clear or rebuild estates.
Ten million euro will be made available by government to complete building works on designated housing estates. This funding will not arrive in time for the hundreds of homes due to be demolished.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 17 November 2013. The reporter is Sharon Gaffney.
