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

It is very important to get that message out there. I am glad Ms Grogan made that clear to me.

The fire safety issues that are in a very significant number of homes also apply to homes that have closed in the recent past. I have looked at those homes. A number of them are older buildings, are more than one storey high, and have annexes, mezzanines and all sorts of historic construction. The problem seems to be, in the case of the one we are talking about in Cork, that the risks identified in the centre's own fire safety risk assessment carried out in November 2021 have not been mitigated. In other words, there have been serious fire safety issues with the home in Cork since at least November 2021. All of them have not been addressed, yet that home is a huge risk to those residents. Why has this not been dealt with before now? I know that HIQA has held a number of meetings with the home owners - the chief inspector pointed out what the internal process is - and this matter is at the highest level of engagement. However, the danger is still there in respect of a number of homes in the country. This issue seems to come up very frequently but has not been addressed. Where is HIQA's responsibility on that because ultimately it rests with it?