Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that the Minister of State is not the line Minister, but he did say he appreciated the opportunity to update the House on this important matter. He did not really provide that much of an update, however, apart from the fact, which we know from The Irish Times, that the code of practice, which has been referred to previously in the Dáil, is being developed. What is worrying is that mention was made of a code of practice "including guidance on interim safety measures". That would be welcome because we do need guidance on interim safety measures, but to make these happen, we need money.

Funding is needed, because the bottom line is that people cannot afford to pay €20,000 or whatever to make their homes safe. None of this is the fault of those people. They are not responsible for the situation and they do not have the money to pay for the remediation. If we identify that there is a serious fire risk in apartment buildings, in terms of the threat of a fire spreading rapidly, then we must urgently provide funding to ensure the work is done to make these apartments safe on an interim basis while the full scheme is rolled out. That is essential. It would be grossly negligent of the Government not to take this action in light of the information it has in front of it.

I did not get an answer, but perhaps the Minister will provide one in respect of the issues of retrospection and insurance. On the timeframe, I again stress the urgency regarding all of this. I encourage the Minister or any Member of the House to come out and meet the campaigners, who are people living in the conditions I have outlined. In light of the fire in Blanchardstown, they are thinking about these safety issues more. They are outside the Dáil every Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Next week, the Not Our Fault campaign is planning a 24-hour protest. If people are free at any stage in the day, they can go out and talk to these people and get a sense of the urgency, especially in respect of emergency or interim funding, or whatever we want to call it. Money must be involved to ensure this work happens before the end of the year.

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