Mr. Barry Mulhern:

I will speak on the insurance matter and Mr. Nugent can then go through the timeline of what we discovered. We had an underwriter in 2016 that was charging us €22,000 for 86 units. In 2017, that went up to €24,000. As the 2018 renewal period came up, we were summoned to that underwriter's office and basically told that we had to have a substantive plan in place and works under way, otherwise it would withdraw cover from us. What was meant by substantial works was that we had to have work under way to get it done and that feeds back into the issue whereby we simply did not have the money and even if we had voted in the levy, which we had not done up to that point, then getting that money together was going to prove impossible. That left us with the insurer of last resort, which was a firm that traded out of the United Kingdom. It hit us with a €31,500 renewal premium, which was an increase just shy of €10,000. With that came the €75,000 each on every excess. We were essentially hit with a 30% rating increase and in return for that we got substantially less cover. In 2019, the cost of the insurance went up again to €33,500 and that was with a €75,000 excess. That particular underwriter has left the market and is no longer writing business in Ireland. It took hours of phone calls from directors. Mr. Nugent and I are directors but we have our own jobs and we do all of this in our spare time away from friends, family and leisure activities. We managed to get another insurer that has come in and the cost of the insurance is down. For the time being, this insurer has given us a reduced excess but if we do not get the work done and if we do not get blocks brought up to the safety standard required, the excess will go back up again.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan mentioned a double injustice. We are facing a situation whereby there is no guarantee that we will be able to complete the work. If we cannot complete it, then I, as an owner, am facing into a situation whereby if there is a fire in the apartment above mine and my apartment is left uninhabitable, I will have to find €50,000 of my own money just to get the work started. Once those works are done, I would still be facing into a substantial excess.

That is what one faces each and every day. I will defer to Mr. Nugent who will go through the timeline of what we faced with our particular county council but I have given the realistic lived experience of someone who is in this situation.