Ms Orla Hegarty:

Deputy O'Dowd raised the issue of who pays for outstanding buildings. It is important to point out that this is a global issue. The issue with combustible cladding did not start at Grenfell. Major fires were happening approximately every four months globally before Grenfell. It would misrepresent the position to argue that the issue is one of one rogue material finding its way onto a building. The issue with Grenfell is not just the cladding but the way it was assembled, the location of windows, the failure of compartmentation, the inadequacy of escape routes and the fact that ventilation and lighting on alarms did not work. There are myriad reasons which go to the root of how construction industry procurement is happening, including how the regulatory systems have been deregulated and outsourced. I emphasise that this needs to be very broadly considered and not in some narrow way.

The way in which this would be paid for and resourced and the way in which enforcement will work with regard to requiring buildings to be evacuated or works to be done are live issues in many countries. We need a broader forum where this can be actively done. My personal view is that having invited stakeholder groups does not open up the process to the rest of the industry to enable it to know what is happening and anticipate what is coming next. This affects how people are designing buildings. We need a much more open system to signal what the issues are, who is providing input and what likely future paths through this will be. I do not believe we have that at the moment.

What happens next is all part of it. There will definitely be an issue with resources for these buildings. It would be remiss of me not to mention the large number of defective buildings we already have. We have an enormous legacy issue of defective buildings that will need to be resourced and funded in some way. There is an information loop for the designers, the people doing remedial work and those who live in or use these buildings. There is a broader context.