Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy mentioned the legislation that applies in the case of items purchased in a shop, which can be returned if faulty. Where a person decides to apply for planning permission to build a house or building and does not build it in accordance with the planning permission, the authority concerned is entitled to bring the builder to court to enforce compliance with the regulations. The problem in this country is due to a time when there was a rush to give planning permissions for buildings. I do not know the details of the planning of the buildings concerned but I am sure permission for them was given in good faith and that it was expected the construction would be carried out in accordance with the building conditions and regulations, which would mean they would not be fire hazards.

We cannot allow a situation where when an inspection says these places are fire hazards, we expect people to live in them. The problem is that there was nobody to police the quality of the building that were constructed in those cases. Any good clerk of works would have said the building was not in accordance with the regulations, that he would bring the builder to court, make him knock the building down and rebuild it in accordance with the conditions.

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