Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies for raising this very important matter. A fire broke out in an apartment on the 13th floor of the Metro Hotel and apartment building in Ballymun at approximately 8 p.m. last night, Wednesday, 21 March 2018. The fire extensively damaged the 13th and 10th floors of the building. The building was evacuated successfully and there are no reports of missing persons or injuries at this point. Eleven units of Dublin Fire Brigade, comprising eight fire engines, two aerial appliances and the incident command unit, involving approximately 60 firefighters under the command of the chief fire officer, responded and assisted with evacuation, as well as fighting the fire.

The fire has now been extinguished but the fire brigade remains in attendance. An Garda Síochána was at the scene overnight and managed traffic in the area to facilitate firefighting. It is understood the Garda will investigate the cause of the fire. The Dublin Fire Brigade will also carry out an initial review of the scene and its response in the days ahead. At this point, I am sure Deputies on all sides will join with me in expressing appreciation to the emergency services and all others involved in responding to the incident last night. I was kept informed as events unfolded through liaison between the fire brigade and officials in my Department. None of us is on the front line when it comes to these types of emergencies but it seems very tense from our point of view. We can only imagine what the firefighters felt. They are incredibly brave in the work they do.

I turn now to the fire safety task force. I established it in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy of 14 June 2017 in recognition of fears expressed for fire safety in Ireland. On 27 June 2017, I tasked my Department's National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management with convening and co-ordinating a high level task force to lead Ireland's reappraisal of fire safety.

The task force held its tenth and most recent meeting on 22 February 2018. It discussed the most up to date draft of its report. In the intervening time, the national directorate had to deal with the significant snow event associated with Storm Emma and has not had an opportunity to consider the task force members' feedback on this latest draft. Notwithstanding this, I expect to receive the full report of the task force before the end of April.

In addition to establishing the task force, local authorities were requested to undertake a number of initial actions and the task force was requested to oversee and report on a review of fire safety in both social housing and fire safety in medium to high rise buildings. As part of these initial actions, local authorities, in June of last year, were asked to assess multistorey social housing buildings' fire detection and alarm systems, emergency lighting systems and common escape routes, including corridors, stairways and emergency exits, and to ensure that such systems are in place and fully functional.

The local authorities responded fully to my request and carried out the inspections and works arising within the required timeframes. To give an indication of the extent of this exercise, 1,230 multi-storey social housing buildings in Ireland were reported back to my Department. They contain 16,780 flats. The four Dublin local authority areas had 64% of the buildings and 77% of the flats, the two Cork local authority areas had 7% of the buildings and 5% of the flats and the Limerick local authority area had 4% of the buildings and 4% of the flats. Overall, the review was a comprehensive exercise. It highlighted that local authorities are fully engaged in their fire safety responsibilities to those who rely on social housing.

This initial work in respect of the appraisal of fire safety in medium to high rise buildings was carried out and all local authorities have reported back to my Department as requested. The work undertaken has identified 842 buildings within the medium and high rise category. A total of 291 of these were identified as having certain categories of external cladding. After preliminary consideration, local authorities, using their powers under section 18(6) of the Fire Services Act, have requested the persons having control of 237 of these buildings to have detailed fire safety assessments carried out. The work by persons having control of these buildings, and their professional advisers, to carry out and report the fire safety assessments is ongoing. As of the end of January, 99 fire safety assessments had been received by fire authorities, and further action is proposed or under consideration in eight cases - six residential and two non-residential.

A guidance note - fire safety guidance note 01 of 2017 - Assessing existing cladding systems in buildings of more than six storeys, or more than 18 m in height - was developed by a task force subgroup and has been circulated to fire authorities and placed on my Department's website as a support for those undertaking assessments of cladding in medium to high rise building. The task force subgroup will maintain oversight of the review of these assessments in the months ahead, dealing with any emergent issues and providing an oversight report at the end of the process. It is understood the building in Ballymun which went on fire last night was identified in the survey of medium to high-rise buildings undertaken as part of the work of the fire safety task force in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire. Initial indications are that cladding was not a contributory factor in this fire.

As indicated earlier, the fire will now be the subject to a full Garda investigation. The outcome will, of course, be carefully considered.

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