Time to get tough with fly-by-night builders

I AM angered by the problem of unfinished housing estates.

Not a week passes but I have a letter from some part of Co Cork and beyond complaining that a developer has moved on leaving the job in a complete mess.

Successive Governments have ignored the problem. Unscrupulous builders are frequently leaving estates half finished. Our planning laws are not stringent enough and the consequences have to be endured by the residents or local authorities. Local authority finances are restricted enough without having to pay for blatant contravention of weak laws.

The Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Dick Roche, has an obligation to local authorities on this very important matter. If he is insisting on limiting their revenue, he should also think of his obligations to protect councils from unnecessary expenditure like carrying the can for fly-by-night developers. The only way to end this folly is to introduce stiffer fines and jail sentences for developers who fail to carry out their side of the bargain.

Cllr Noel Collins

‘St Jude’s’

Midleton

Co Cork