Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I know that we had a break and the nomination of the Taoiseach and so on, but even at this late stage it might be useful, if there is agreement, to have a minute's silence before the Order of Business in memory of the Grenfell Tower residents. A strong statement needs to go out from all of us in this House expressing our solidarity in the matter. It is welcome that building standards have improved and that the number of fire fatalities is low, but I am not satisfied with the Government's response to date. I have been told that, despite seeking submissions on the new building regulations and meeting some of the fire experts, the Government has ignored requests to update the fire regulations to ensure fire resistance and structural integrity between units is at the level it should be. The fire in Newbridge proved this. The buildings had been signed off on and certified as safe, yet the fire spread through eight units in 28 minutes. It should have taken 420. What we are being told by fire experts is that a huge percentage of buildings in this country are not safe because the regulations are defective and local authorities have been gutted of their ability to inspect them.

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