Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. A working group report that examined defects in housing found that a lack of fire safety material, structural defects and water ingress are likely to affect up to 80% of apartments and duplexes built between 1991 and 2013 in the Celtic tiger era, which equates to between 62,500 and 100,000 homes. This percentage is shocking.

People save for years to purchase a property. Fire safety defects are among the most significant issues, specifically in apartment blocks. It is common that solicitors or lenders insist on a survey prior to purchase, whereby an inspection is carried out of the unit being purchased but not communal areas. However, in one case fire defects that were subsequently highlighted are costing owners in an apartment block up to €70,000 to repair on top of paying €2,450 per annum in management fees. This is in a building that received a fire certificate two years before the build. The problem is that fire certificates were approved and granted to developers based on submitted plans. No further inspection or follow up was carried out to ensure compliance with the plans. Defective construction work is in breach of building contracts but it is common for developers to claim liquidation, set up a new company and build down the road from the defective buildings. That is not right.

The homeowners are not responsible for these defects. Light-touch building control regulation by the Government and shoddy practice in the construction industry were the cause of these defects, yet the homeowners are being made to pay for these errors and the crooked developers are getting away with it scot-free. There should be no statute of limitations for developers who are no longer deemed liable. They are working the system.

It is only right and just that tenants are seeking to recoup the cost of remedial works in the form of 100% redress. The report of the working group to examine defects in housing outlines options for the creation and financing of a redress scheme for those affected, with the cost of remediating these defects estimated to be as high as €2.5 billion.

A redress scheme for all homes impacted by Celtic tiger-era building defects needs to be set up as a matter of urgency. There is growing frustration among homeowners and tenants due to the delay in bringing forward an appropriate redress scheme. Homeowners may be unable to access such a scheme and receive funding for remediation until 2024 at the earliest due to the slow pace in bringing forward legislation and regulations and the lack of any provision for such a scheme in budget 2023. That is not good enough. I agree that current legislation on such schemes, including measures such as the Pyrite Resolution Board, could be amended to advance redress more rapidly. Additionally, in the interim, funding for emergency works and short-term measures should be made available in advance of a full redress.

An additional point that should be prioritised is that the scheme should be retrospective for those forced to pay for remediation of defects in advance of the opening of a redress scheme.

These are people’s lives we are talking about. What if, God forbid, something similar to Grenfell happens? This situation is breaching their rights to life and their rights to adequate housing. Let us stop playing a political game of football. Why do we continue to gloss over problems rather than getting to their route cause? Yes, there have been more thorough inspections implemented within the construction industry, but more needs to be done in terms of building control regulations. We also must ensure that latent defect insurance policies apply to cover homeowners against defects that cannot be perceived on purchase.

Would it not be beneficial to invest in a new building control scheme that would be independent and that would ensure that building regulations were met? With the housing crisis rising, we need to ensure that any new builds are compliant and are safe. We need a timeframe for redress for affected homeowners and we need this now.

A home is not just a home. A home is a meeting place for family and friends. Many of these people have children who cannot even take their friends around to their house. Many families have suffered over the last number of years. I know myself one wants a home to be home. Consider the amount of time that families spend away from their families when they are working, doing overtime and trying to get as much money as they can to pay their mortgage. These people have paid mortgages. They have paid their loans and they have done everything by the book. As I said earlier, the developers have walked away scot-free. I know that the Minister has given the commitment that he will rectify this, but it needs to be rectified now. How can you go home and talk to a child who is going to bed when the child looks up to the ceiling and is afraid that it will fall on top of them when they see cracks in the walls? I am talking about this as if this is my house. I guarantee the Minister of State that if it were his house he would not accept it either. This has to be done and it has to be sorted out. I hope that the Minister of State is going to chase these developers. Personally, I know of builders who have moved down the road, and although their building sites went into liquidation they still have their big, fancy cars, houses and everything else. The only people who have been affected are the honest, individual people who went away, who got a mortgage and who did a bit over time. I plead with the Minister of State to do it now, straight away.

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