Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Now that we rightly have much more stringent fire safety regulations, surely this is an issue for other community facilities and public buildings? I expect this will arise elsewhere and it will be necessary to establish a grant system to allow providers of such services to access funds to help make these buildings safer. Many of these community centres were built with prison labour and some do not seem to have proper plans. Hartstown community centre is not the only building of this nature in the area.

While I fully agree that the owner of the building is ultimately responsible, many community buildings are owned and run by councils, the church or private companies so there cannot be a hard and fast rule on assisting them. These facilities provide public and community services. I ask that the Taoiseach or the Minister convene a meeting of officials from the relevant Departments to see how assistance could be provided. I also appeal to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to hand this facility over to the community in order that it can go forward with it.

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