Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

The Minister seems to be suggesting that the current crisis has nothing to do with him. I suggest that if he continues to adopt that attitude he is facilitating what is a human and social disaster. Priory Hall residents were outside the gates of Leinster House today. They thought the works on their homes would be completed by Monday but as of today, nothing has been done to deal with the fundamental structural problems in their homes. There are the cases we have mentioned already here about pyrite. Tens of thousands of timber frame houses have been built without adequate ventilation which has resulted in humidity that is rotting the timber. All of that is going on. Residents expected they would get a remedy, be protected by the building regulations or that insurance companies would deal with those crises but nobody is dealing with them. Every agency is kicking the issue to the other and the Minister seems to be adding himself to that pot, so to speak. That is not good enough. This is an emergency.

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