Minister for Housing & Planning Jan O’Sullivan TD today, published a report on progress being made in tackling unfinished housing developments.

Minister O’Sullivan stated that: "In June 2011, the Government announced a range of actions to address the problems posed by unfinished housing developments. Through a National Co-ordination Committee that I chair, a comprehensive suite of actions have been taken on most of the recommendations contained in the Final Report of the Advisory Group on Unfinished Housing Developments."

Actions have been taken in areas such as:

•Bringing together developers, banks, NAMA, local authorities, state agencies and representatives of residents in creating a more co-ordinated approach;

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•Putting in place site resolution plans, many of which are underway, that have a real impact on the ground and bring significant improvements to residents;

•Tackling public safety issues that have arisen on some unfinished housing developments;

•Raising confidence in our ability to tackle this problem by providing guidance and support.

"The report I am publishing today demonstrates that significant progress has been achieved in addressing the serious problem of unfinished housing estates. On 211 estates work has been completed and issues are now resolved. In 523 estates plans are now in place and in many of these cases work has commenced and significant progress will be achieved over the coming months. In addition Government funding to target the most serious public safety issues has seen more than €3m invested in 128 developments to ensure that families and neighbours aren’t exposed to safety risks.

"While progress has been achieved I don’t want to underestimate the challenge that lies ahead. There are still too many families living on or nearby unfinished developments whose quality of life is seriously affected. One of the important aspects of the work achieved in the past 12 months is that we now have a real partnership between local authorities, residents, developers and funders and a common will to tackle this issue. I am determined to see additional progress in the coming year."

(CD)