It has come to my attention in recent months that bonds that are held by banks in various counties which would allow councils to complete unfinished estates cannot be accessed because of excessive red tape being put in place by the banks. This is a disgraceful situation because those bonds were put in place at the time to cover this very eventuality. There may be some estates where there is no bond in place, but there are many more who do have a bond, and in many cases the banks involved are putting the councils through an inordinate amount of red tape and are dragging their feet on paying these bonds, which is totally unacceptable.
The Government need to step in on this issue and instruct the banks, and especially those owned by the taxpayer, to pay the bonds that are owed. There are also a couple of banks who are trying to leave the country who are to blame here as well. The Central Bank have also a role to play here. They are great at imposing rules and regulations but in this case they seem to be reluctant to apply the rules to the commercial banks involved. I want this problem addressed right away so that people who are living in unfinished housing estates can see the work that is needed start immediately