Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

The situation faced by those in Priory Hall and Belmayne and those whose houses were constructed with material containing pyrite is appalling. This is not just about the tragic effects that has had on the residents, although the motion asks the Government to declare it will take the lead in providing the resources necessary to undertake the remedial works or transfers necessary to house these people in buildings of a proper standard and quality that are safe and to do whatever else is necessary to compensate them for the appalling position in which they find themselves through no fault of their own.

The residents of Belmayne and Priory Hall and of houses containing pyrite are the tip of the iceberg and the United Left Alliance and the Technical Group are not the only people saying that. There is considerable evidence that this is the case. For example, the SEAI found that 93% of housing built between 1997 and 2002, which it examined, did not comply with regulations to reduce the risk of fire spread. The director general of Engineers Ireland, John Power, described the findings as "truly appalling" and said that, "Priory Hall is symptomatic of what is likely to be a long line of disasters as a result of the lack of building control in this country". That is the serious issue we are asking the Minister to address. It potentially affects tens of thousands of people and results from a lack of compliance with building regulations by builders who were driven by nothing other than a profit frenzy to slap up substandard housing and apartments to make a fast buck regardless of the consequences for the people who bought them.

The failure of builders and developers resulting from their greed was compounded by the disgraceful failure of the building regulations themselves and the authorities that were supposed to enforce them. It is incredible that houses built without complying with the regulations were inspected and, in many cases, passed. How could that happen? Clearly, the regulations failed and successive Governments failed to resource a proper building inspection regime. All of this was facilitated by politicians who were beholden to developers and builders and who were addicted to a political and economic doctrine of deregulation. The same doctrine and dogma deregulated the financial sector and crashed the financial system. When the same doctrine was applied to housing, it resulted in a disaster for the people of Priory Hall and Belmayne, those with pyrite in their homes and tens of thousands of other homeowners who may not even know the full extent of the problems in their homes and the potential fire hazard they may face because we do not know the full extent of this problem.

This is the legacy of the Galway tent. Fianna Fail Members should hang their heads in shame about what went on in that tent and what it led to by allowing cowboy builders and developers to run amok. However, as the Mahon Tribunal report informed us, the political establishment generally was involved, particularly Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and they had a rotten relationship with builders and developers.

All we are asking is that the Minister says he will do something for the residents of Priory Hall and Belmayne and those affected by pyrite and do more than what he proposes in his amendment to deal with the inadequate building regulations and inspection and enforcement regime. When my colleagues and I spoke to builders on sites during the boom, they told us we were building the tenements of the future and there was no proper inspection regime on site. They used to point to the old days - I do not know that much about building - when clerks of works were on site from the beginning to the end of a project monitoring every single stage of construction. The State then moved to self-certification and deregulation and we have witnessed the dire consequences of that. We need proper building regulations and a return to the regime where clerks of works are on site from the beginning of a project in order that it is not left up to profit-driven developers and builders to inspect themselves because that just does not work.

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