Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have learned a lot. Most of all, I have had reassurance from the fire officer that neither he nor the Department is aware of any buildings which have the potential to cause a fire such as happened at Grenfell Tower. He said fire officers had inspected the 14 remaining buildings and found no issues regarding cladding. He said there was sometimes no clarity as to who owned a building and often no management company. Do local authorities or statutory agencies have powers to go in and get these things done themselves? Are these bodies ultimately responsible? If there are fire hazards it is important they are dealt with immediately.

During the boom, many fine housing estates were built and there was some appalling and disgraceful construction. The difficulty was that the local authority did not have the capacity to keep an eye on everything, notwithstanding the huge fees it got and the expansion in staff it had. That was entirely unacceptable. I recognise the professionalism of the architects present but when one buys a house or rents an apartment one assumes everything is right. I agree with Ms Hegarty that transparency and accountability go to the heart of this. Everybody believes the statutory agencies are doing their job and that professional people have done their job but when they have not, how do we know? Where are the oversight, the vigilance and the analysis?

I do not have professional knowledge but I have listened to the professionals' recommendations. I am very concerned about what they said about the Hackitt report. More transparency and accountability are needed and there should be action if people are not doing their job. If the Hackitt report is as critical as they say, what should we do now? What do we have to change?