I welcome the Minister of State. After the debate he may see the wisdom of our proposal. I thank the Leader of the House and Senators for giving me and my Labour colleagues the opportunity to bring forward this planning legislation which, hopefully, will have the support of all Senators.
This Bill amends the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, by providing that an application for planning permission may be denied —"may" is the important word — if the applicant or connected person has failed to complete works that were a condition of the granting of planning permission for a previous development by them.
It will also allow the Minister to make regulations forcing an applicant to provide information in relation to previous permissions and whether they were completed in accordance with the conditions attached to them. The Bill provides a simple mechanism to enable planning authorities to tackle rogue builders or developers who have previously failed to properly complete works in new housing estates, whether by failing to complete them in a reasonable time or by failing to complete them at all. This obviously includes the standard of work of the houses, the taking in charge of the estate, the dedication of the open spaces and the health and safety standards for workers during construction.
Irish people have a tradition of aspiring to home ownership. We are unique in this regard among EU member states. Over 80 per cent of the dwellings in the State are owner occupied. Families and single people are willing to mortgage themselves up to the hilt to achieve this objective. This has also been a great boost to the State and the demand for local authority housing has been reduced accordingly.
The average price of a new house for which loans were approved in Dublin has increased from £62,375 in 1992 to £94,375 in 1997. The repayments on such loans are in the region of £650 to £700 per month. With such repayments there is no alternative in most cases to both partners having to work outside the home. What do buyers expect in return for this, the biggest investment of their lives? They expect their houses to be constructed up to a certain standard, roads to be usable, public lighting to operate, grass verges to be planted and maintained, and open spaces to be developed and maintained so that their children can play, and they expect these facilities within a reasonable period. Given this scenario is it any wonder that residents are rightly angry when any of these items, normally conditioned in a planning permission, have been delayed or, in many cases, deliberately ignored?
Since becoming a public representative in 1983 the two main planning issues that have consistently been brought to my attention by residents are indiscriminate rezoning and unfinished estates. Regarding unfinished estates, I committed myself to pressurise Government about this scandal, which is being caused by a minority of builders. Apart from causing grief to buyers, they are also giving the building industry in general a bad name. I believe that the Construction Industry Federation itself, which is well aware of this problem, should have dealt with this. Given that it has not, it is imperative that legislation be put in place.
I intend to use examples from my own constituency, although I know that all of my colleagues will have similar examples. An estate in Balbriggan was built 19 years ago and in that time a generation of young people has grown up without an open space to play on. An estate in Donabate is nearly 15 years old and still has not been taken in charge; Bord Gáis has refused to install natural gas to the houses because the roads have not been taken in charge. There are two other estates in Balbriggan and Swords where the houses were so badly built that in one fungus was growing through the floors, which had to be replaced. In the other estate the roofs had to be replaced. In one of these cases, the residents were covered by the home bond scheme which was some consolation to them, notwithstanding the delay, inconvenience and trauma caused. In the other case the residents were left with no alternative but to take legal action against the developer. This went on for years, at their expense. It should be noted that not all builders are part of the home bond scheme.
The planning department of Fingal County Council has sequestered security from seven developers who have not brought estates to the taking in charge standard. Furthermore, legal action is current regarding the dedication of the open space in nine other developments. It has taken from five to 13 years to get to this stage. Imagine, there have been no footpaths, no public lighting in some cases, defects in houses and no open spaces in other cases during that time and people paid between £50,000 and £80,000 for those house.
The most galling aspect of this whole sorry saga is that while the council is endeavouring to achieve agreement with the developers, and the house purchasers have had to bear the brunt of the unfinished nature of their estate, the same developers have the right under current planning legislation to apply for and be granted further planning permissions. Developers are entitled to seek and be granted further planning permissions while they have left other estates in a shambles. This is unacceptable. Disgruntled angry residents pose the same question to me and to other representatives: how can they get away with it? The Minister of State will have to convince me and thousands of people who are in this situation why he is doing nothing.
As regards possible enforcement action against these cowboys, present planning legislation is totally inadequate. The 1992 planning Act imposed limits of up to five years from the date of the planning permission to the period in which the planning authority may take action. This was a retrograde step. Developers are driving a coach and four through the system. The planning authority may take action in a District Court in the first instance and the maximum fine which may be imposed is £1,000. Some developers are prepared to go down this road as it is a paltry sum to pay given the huge profits most make.
Another ploy used allows the developer to wait until shortly before the court hearing to agree to a programme to carry out outstanding works. If this is not fully adhered to, another court date is sought thus causing a further delay. The planning authorities, even working under the constraints of current legislation, should be more aggressive and be prepared to go straight to the High Court if necessary.
I look forward to hearing Members' contributions and I hope they and, in particular, the Minister will acknowledge this problem. I hope the Government and the Minister will not push this issue aside. It is not an issue with which to play politics, so let us agree to this legislation, which may not be perfect. I am prepared to allow the Minister to take this Bill in the spirit in which it was put forward and to return with better legislation. We must all do something about this scandal.