Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The protest today and the anger from the north west were really something to witness. I saw a lot of politicians trying to curry favour at it but many of the protestors were not very comfortable with their presence. This was mainly because these people have suffered under the legacy associated with the parties that oversaw the abuse of the system of building regulations in this country.

The 5,000 families affected by defective building blocks that contained mica, many of which were supplied in County Donegal by Cassidy Brothers builder providers, showed a lot anger, much of which was directed at the supplier. In a statement, the supplier has denied all wrongdoing and blames the issue entirely on the Government's lax regulations before 2013. To some degree, the company is right that lax regulations were at fault. However, that any supplier, builder or developer could claim it was not their responsibility is hilarious. Anybody who produces or sells goods has a responsibility to the consumer to know what the goods contain, what properties are in them and whether they are up to standard. The people I spoke to were also angry with Donegal County Council, which continues to use the same supplier, including for many of the council's social housing projects.

In the case of homes affected by pyrite, 100% of the remediation costs were paid. In the case of mica remediation, it is proposed to pay 90% of the costs. There have been attempts to make this a Donegal versus Dublin issue. We totally reject that. We support 100% redress for all those affected. We also support levying a tax on the profits of the building industry in the longer term. The issue is wider than Donegal, Mayo or, indeed, Dublin. It is estimated that 5,000 homes are affected in the north west from the use of mica. More than 2,000 homes affected by pyrite in Dublin have already been dealt with, at an average cost of €70,000.

A much wider and more pervasive issue exists, namely, the estimated 100,000 defective apartments caused by cost-cutting building practices in the Celtic tiger boom. A working group is looking at the wider problem with homes. The group's only remit with regard to a solution is the option of setting up a low-interest or zero-interest loan scheme for owners to fix the properties. It is estimated that the average cost could be €15,000 for each apartment, and possibly more. Interestingly, the group is chaired by Seamus Neely, who was the manager of Donegal County Council between 2010 and 2020 when many of these homes were built. The defects in these apartments are varied but mainly involve the absence of fire walls between apartments and other fire safety elements, with water egress and water coming into apartments because of defective piping or drains.

The root cause of all three sets of problems - pyrite, mica and apartment block issues - are the building regulations during the boom years. Essentially it was a system of self-regulation, light-touch regulation and self-certification with no oversight by the State and no real recourse for those affected or penalties for those guilty of building defective apartments or using defective materials. Builders and developers got certifiers to certify projects with no on-site inspections. When problems arose the legal position was that neither the builders nor the developers or those they hired to certify the homes could be held responsible. It is absolute lunacy. Many of the developers and builders who were responsible have since changed their names but are still operating as companies in the building industry. None faces punishments or actions as a result of the statute of limitations and their ability to blame the certification rules in place at the time.

In 2017, a Dáil committee recommended that "The mission statement of the Redress Scheme should be: 'Ordinary owners who purchased in good faith should not be liable for the costs of remediation caused by the incompetence, negligence or deliberate non-compliance of others'". We support that statement. Other demands included the establishment of a building standards and consumer protection agency to enforce building regulations, independent of developers and builders, and to make mandatory fire safety inspections of all building sites, and to extend the statute of limitations to run for years after the defects are first discovered.

A Dáil report from 2017 on this issue lists Priory Hall, Longboat Quay, Beacon South Quarter, Millfield Manor and Balgaddy as just some of the private and public housing developments affected. Poor design, shoddy workmanship and improper products resulted in badly built homes that were in breach of building and fire safety standards. Greed, dishonesty and incompetence left many homeowners and council tenants with poor quality homes and hefty repair bills. This could apply to the people of Donegal and Mayo today.

All of this was made possible by a weak regime of regulation and compliance in which self-certification and limited independent inspections were the order of the day. We do not yet know the full extent of this legacy. The key issue is that light-touch self-regulation is no regulation at all. What is to be done? It is not good enough for the Government not to oppose the Sinn Féin motion tonight. It must commit to the responsibility it has to the families who are affected, commit to 100% redress and pay for the tests in full. The Government should levy a tax on the profits of the building industry to pay for all of this, and it must learn lessons.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. To date, the Minister has lifted specifications on apartment sizes, has gifted public land to private developers and is creating strategic housing developments.

He has lifted height restrictions. He is allowing non-stop build-to-let, student accommodation and co-living with no oversight on how these strategic developments impact on communities, the environment and wildlife. Poor planning is turning a blind eye to the actions of the developers who frequently break rules and, I have heard, on occasion intimidate residents who oppose them. Housing policies in this State must be determined by the needs of ordinary people and families for a decent safe home and not in the interests of builders, developers, suppliers, the Construction Industry Federation and the friends of the Galway tent.

See this speech in context