Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I was absolutely fuming when I read what happened to residents in Lucan because the very same developer was responsible for building units in Balbriggan. I spent years, starting about seven years ago, trying to push Fingal County Council to rectify fire safety issues which are in existence in that estate and must now find out the same builder was responsible for the same thing in a different local authority area. Yet, this other local authority has adopted the very same contemptuous attitude that some people in Fingal County Council adopted with regard to residents' concerns.

These are not isolated cases. As remediation works are being done in pyrite-afflicted homes at the moment, when the walls are opened up it is found on a regular basis that fire safety standards are not being adhered to, and this is a particular problem in timber-frame developments. There have been numerous breaches of these regulations yet the local authorities have not acted and have not initiated any enforcement proceedings whatsoever. What is the Minister and his Department going to do about that? In the case of the developer concerned with the estate in Balbriggan, the council there engaged with the developer, agreed some issues to be dealt with and then accepted a few issues and let him off in terms of compliance on the others. No enforcement proceedings were taken.

When people buy dwellings from a local authority, they think they are buying the best and that they are getting the best standards of checking and so on. In this case, not only did that not happen, but the seller of the property, in this case the local authority, has walked away from it. That is not good enough. The people who bought affordable houses were those who needed support as they could not afford to buy on the market. They need greater protection. We know of instances where people are being levied for the cost of the remediation works. Homeowners themselves are being asked to pay for this, and the local authority's response has been that it is a civil matter between the tenant and the builder. It is not a civil matter between them. The local authority has a role to play as the enforcing authority. What is the Minister going to do to make sure the local authority ensures the builders do the work they were supposed to do and adhere to the standards they were supposed to adhere to? If the builder is gone, how will the Minister make sure that is done without it being a cost to the residents, who are the victims in this?

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