Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The horrific outcomes of sub-standard Celtic-tiger building practices and the widespread use of blocks and backfill with deleterious materials such as pyrite, mica and pyrrhotite remain with us today. Last week, we witnessed in the Chamber the heartbreak and devastation of families let down by the Government's substandard defective blocks legislation, but today I want to raise the issue of a large apartment development in my constituency called Ivy Exchange. It was built during a time of reckless building practices. Residents are still living with significant fire safety and structural defects - defects that will cost homeowners more than €9 million to remedy. The owners' management company is taking the only course of action open to it, which is to pursue the developer through the courts. Much has been reported in the media, setting out the very aggressive and costly litigation of the developer, Cosgrave, against the management committee in an effort to shut down the residents' only avenue of redress. Residents, of course, should not be left to the mercy of Cosgrave or, indeed, the courts. The State should have protections in place. Where it has failed to deliver these protections, there should be a mechanism of redress. What action does the Government propose to take to support the Ivy Exchange residents?

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