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

I appreciate the additional time the Acting Chairman gave me earlier so I will try to keep it even shorter than two minutes. Work has been ongoing in the medium and high rise category. That was the second phase of the task force group's work and 842 buildings were identified in that category. Further detailed assessments of fire and life safety measures were deemed to be needed for 237 buildings. As of the end of January this year, 99 of those assessments had taken place. Only eight cases from those 99 required further actions. Of those, six were residential buildings and two were non-residential.

3 o’clock

A significant amount of work is being done by the task force. Coming back to Deputy Ellis's point, the task force has had ten meetings. Since I set it up, it is preparing a report based on the actual work it is doing in the interim period. It is doing the actual work and then preparing a report on that work, which will inform us what we need to do in the future.

That work has been interrupted by Storm Ophelia and Storm Emma because it is the same group of people doing the work. Any new learning that will come from this latest incident will be considered when we have that work done by both the Garda and the fire services. When we have the report from the task force, including the extensive work done in all local authority owned multi-storey complexes, this will be published. What happened last night in Ballymun was a serious and dangerous event. Our emergency firefighters and those who helped people evacuate the hotel acquitted themselves admirably, as well as showing bravery and courage. What happened last night will not undermine our ambition for more high-rise buildings in Dublin. It is a key feature of what we need to do to deliver for the housing needs of our people. We can do it with safe buildings and have the fire services in place to ensure public safety and the safety of those who live in these buildings.

For those who suffered in this event, there are all sorts of supports available to them, in particular, the emergency needs payment. People can contact their social welfare offices to see what supports are available. If the Deputies are aware of anybody having difficulties in this regard, he can bring them to my attention.

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