Ghost estates - Taxpayer to pay the price

ANYONE who has driven through rural Ireland lately will be aghast at the proliferation of ‘ghost’ housing estates, vacant offices and empty shops.

Unwanted monuments to unbridled greed, they are the legacy of out-of-control development, scatter-gun planning and gross government mismanagement.

According to an official report, a quarter of the housing estates that mushroomed across the landscape overnight now pose serious health hazards, including the threat from raw sewage and water contamination. In many estates, houses are open to the weather while roads lie unfinished and dangerous.

With developers up to their collective neck in debt, the bulk of estates will either be taken over by NAMA or end up in the control of local councils. The billion dollar question raised by the inspectors, who will pay to clean up the mess? The answer, the usual victim, the unfortunate taxpayer.