The Minister for Finance said funding has been set aside to demolish ghost estates, with the taxpayer, rather than developers, likely to foot the bill.

The state is likely to foot the bill for the demolition of around 40 ghost estates around the country.

Nama may be viewed by international investors as a good idea. Whether its efforts to generate revenue from risky assets can be a template for other countries remains to be seen, writes Dara Doyle

ON census night, Apr 10, 2011, there were just under 290,000 empty houses in the State.

Is this the solution to the ghost estate problem?

The Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes (CAHWT) has claimed that the 2011 Census and an analysis by a Maynooth academic show that more than 1.8 million households must register for the Household Charge.

Confusion continues to reign over exactly how many households are eligible for the controversial new tax.

Government threats to withdraw public services where the Household Charge is not paid are an outrageous attack on the poor, it has been claimed.

The National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis has stated that there are actually more homes liable for the Household Charge than the Government has estimated.

Almost 15% of all houses in Ireland were empty on the night of the census.

ON census night, there were 1,994,845 housing units in the State — up 12.72% from 2006, when there were 1,769,613. Some 1,649,408 of these units were occupied by the usual resident.

TRAVEL time to an acute hospital for people living in Kerry, north Mayo or south west Donegal could be more than an hour, a mapping tool reveals.

People who fall ill suddenly in rural Kerry, north Mayo, west Clare and south-west Donegal are more than an hour’s drive from a hospital A&E, new research has revealed.

It could take five years or longer to clear the scourge of ghost estates after more than 800 were filled in the last year, experts have warned.

POLITICAL parties have a novel way of tailoring their message to the specific needs of local communities with free access to an online mapping portal containing specific information on demographics and socioeconomic indicators.

AN independent inquiry is urgently needed into “all aspects of the planning system and its operation within and across different agencies”, according to a State-funded research group.

More than 300,000 houses are lying empty around the country – three times the official estimate, academics claimed today.

THE structural causes behind poverty must be urgently addressed in the upcoming social partnership discussions, it was warned yesterday.