350 Abandoned Ghost Estates 'Hazardous' To Residents

Five million euro in funding is to be made available to local councils to address public safety hazards on hundreds of developer-abandoned housing estates around Ireland.

One in six of the 2,800 'ghost estates' identified in a government survey last year are in need of urgent work for safety reasons, according to the latest report on the issue this week.

It represents around 8,000 houses.

In many cases the problems are open excavations, uncovered manholes, unprotected upper floor areas and inadequate public lighting.

348 estates have been identified as needing immediate action, because people are already living in houses where a large part of the rest of the development has simply been abandoned.

Housing Minister Michael Finneran said the money would not be used to complete the developments, but just to address problems posing a risk to the safety of existing residents.

He also pledged to track down the developers responsible and pursue them for any money spent.

"This money will have to be recouped to the taxpayers of this country because I'm not in the business of bailing out people who gambled in estates, who took out big loans for developments," he said, "I am responding to a public safety need." 52 of the estates concerned are in the Cork area, 34 in Cavan and 23 in Donegal.

The unfinished ghost estates around Ireland have become a symbol of the economic collapse.

Local authorities will now decide which developments require urgent attention on public safety grounds, or which would benefit most from funding to resolve issues. In some cases, there is little hope that the estates will ever be completed, and demolition may have to be considered on a site-by-site basis.