Irish ‘ghost estates’: 75% drop in unfinished housing since 2010

Minister for Housing, Paudie Coffey, said the reduction had been a “significant achievement in what is a complex process”.

He added that the programme to tackle unfinished housing developments had “reached a crucial and final phase” and said further progress would be made next year.

“My objective for 2016 is to secure the resolution of as many more developments as possible and I assure you that I will not spare any of my energy in making that aspiration a reality,” the minister said.

Ghost estates were typically the product of bankrupt developers who had borrowed heavily from Irish banks during the Celtic Tiger era, and who left behind a legacy of unfinished homes and unpaid loans when the property bubble burst.