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

I want to talk about the risk of fire. After the Grenfell Tower fire, much concern was expressed about the housing stock in this country. Kevin Hollingsworth, a chartered surveyor, stated that up to 40% of the housing stock built during the Celtic Tiger period was non-compliant with fire safety standards and compartmentation requirements to stop the spread of fire and there were promises of reviews of multi-storey buildings. I would like to know what became of all of that concern and when we will hear about these risks. I have pressed this issue on a number of occasions and I am getting slightly frustrated now. I have engaged with the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, on issues to do with the technical guidance documents dealing with fire safety and possible problems with them, and I think he is acting in good faith. However, we have been trying to get a meeting with officials at the Department responsible for the environment to discuss these issues and serious allegations about the defective nature of the fire safety regulations and compliance with fire safety. People's lives are seriously at risk. I have seen estates in Dublin which fire consultants tell me are an immediate and imminent fire hazard and where we could have repeats of the Grenfell Tower fire. I want that meeting with officials of the Department of the Taoiseach and the relevant Minister, be it Deputy English or whoever, to happen. We have been messed around for weeks. It is a serious, urgent and life-threatening risk if the scale of breaches of fire safety in residential buildings in this country are anything like what Kevin Hollingsworth says they are.

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