Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

That is the solution to this awful problem and suffering. AIB has loaned mortgages to 27 people in Priory Hall. Have the banks taken any responsibility for the situation of these people in the sense of the huge sums of money the banks lent to developers like this who were flouting regulations? Has the bank done a behind-the-scenes assessment of many other complexes where people have mortgages with AIB and other banks that have not been outed as such but are serious fire traps and will come to the surface in future?

I put it to Mr. Duffy that the suffering inflicted for the past two years on the poor people of Priory Hall is completely unacceptable. Allied Irish Banks, the State and the local authority should provide a much more radical solution that would immediately resolve the issues involved. They should provide investment to resolve the fire issues and allow people to quickly return to their homes and then go after those responsible. Is that not the way the matter should be dealt with?