Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I wish to share time with Deputy Seán Kenny.

Priory Hall is a residential complex of 187 units on the new main street linking Clongriffin and Belmayne in Dublin 13 in the vast new north fringe residential district in Dublin North-East. The estate originally had a mixture of private purchasers, private tenants, city council tenants and residents who moved in through the city council's rental accommodation and affordable housing schemes.

I have raised the critical fire safety and building standard problems and disasters of Priory Hall at least a dozen times in this and the previous Dáil in various ways, including on the Order of Business. Our fire chief, Hugh O'Neill, served a fire safety notice under the Fire Safety Acts on Coalport Ltd., which built Priory Hall, on 4 September 2009. In this notice, the north and south blocks of Priory Hall, which comprises the entire estate, were described as a "potentially dangerous building" and the fire chief ordered an urgent programme of fire safety remedial measures for the estate to make it safe to live in. In December 2009, Dublin City Council moved its own tenants out for their own safety.

In April last at the Dublin District Court, a director of Coalport Ltd., Mr. Tom McFeely, received a six-month suspended sentence and a maximum €3,000 fine and his former partner, Mr. Laurence O'Mahoney, received a one-month suspended sentence and a €1,000 fine for fire safety notice offences at Priory Hall. However, we do not know what conditions, if any, were attached to these suspended sentences or whether Dublin City Council and, in turn, the Minister of State's Department have monitored compliance. Coalport Ltd. and Mr. McFeely, the developer, have also been referred to the courts regarding breaches of the planning law at Priory Hall. The latest such referral occurred on 14 June. Given the serious breaches concerned, can the Minister of State provide residents with a full update on current and future planning enforcement proceedings?

Many outstanding questions relating to Priory Hall need to be addressed by the city council and the Minister of State. The excellent residents' committee led by Ms Sinéad Power and others have still not been told what works have been completed and certified on the building to ensure that it finally complies with all fire safety regulations and building standards and they still do not know if they are safe at night and living in a safe building. Concerns have also been expressed by many residents about the quality of the works being carried out.

I understand that Dublin City Council has undertaken an investigation into the alleged breaches of the Building Control Acts at Priory Hall through a company called Hayes Higgins Partnership but we still do not have a report from it. The residents of Priory Hall want to know why Dublin City Council did not insist that the developers in question put a bond in place which could now be used for all remediation and completion works at the complex. They are deeply frustrated and I hope the Minister of State will ensure Dublin City Council will get to grips with this. He knows the area well and he is welcome to visit us in Dublin North-East.

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