Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Clearly, the Minister has worked particularly hard on this and it is important to acknowledge that. It is great there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel for homeowners for whom this has been an utter nightmare. The devil is in the detail and we will see that detail in time.

When it comes to home defects, it is hard to know where to start. Throughout the country, there is no community without a story about defective apartments. So many people scraped together and saved money to buy their dream home. A few years after residents moved into these homes, cracks and leaks started to appear and these cracks and leaks turned the dream into a nightmare. These defects were not created by the homeowners. Homeowners bought their homes in good faith. They bought them because they believed they would be built well because the banks approved their mortgages and the councils that gave many of them mortgages would not have done so if the buildings were defective, one would have thought. The surveyors said they were grand. The glossy brochures said they were dream homes. What could have gone wrong? What went wrong was the Government's light-touch regulation. Developers could put up whatever they wanted because there would be no one out to check on the defects. I spoke to a council official last week who said the lack of regulation gave the green light for junk to be built.

All the cracks and defects have appeared and homeowners cannot afford the money required to fix their homes. No one would want to buy the defective homes. In my constituency, there were issues of fire safety in Longboat Quay South and water ingress in Gallery Quay and Poolbeg Quay. The owners of apartments in Poolbeg Quay need to be supported financially to resolve the issues. They should not have to pick up the tab because of the Government's failure. Some owners will be out of pocket to the sum of €20,000 to €25,000. Ordinary families cannot afford this.

It is also important not to forget that defective apartments are not all privately owned. Much public housing is also defective. York Street apartments, which are 500 meters from here, would be classed as defective. These apartments are just 15 years old and they received plenty of architectural awards, but awards mean nothing when a person is living in a defective building. Last year, a water tank burst in one of the blocks in York Street apartments and the residents had to move to neighbouring accommodation where they remained for two months. Dublin City Council has spent millions fixing the defects and millions more will have to be spent to remedy these defects.

I am regularly contacted by residents living in flats that have chronic mould and dampness. Flats in Whitefriar Street have serious issues. I was contacted by a family living in a flat in St. Andrew's Court on the other side of Merrion Square. The mould and damp in many of these flats is shocking. These flats are defective and unhealthy to live in and need to be pulled down and rebuilt. Young families should not live in these conditions. One child living in overcrowded conditions has what is like a smoker's cough due to the extent of the mould, condensation and dampness.

Defective apartments are not all privately owned. The flats in Mercer House, Pearse House and Countess Markiewicz House are beautifully designed but they are not fit for purpose anymore. Their day has come and gone and they need to be refurbished and regenerated. This is what needs to be done for residents in the inner city who have so often been forgotten and neglected by the Government and Dublin City Council.

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