Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the Minister of State’s key comments was that there was a low risk of fire. Any risk of fire is dangerous but there is a risk everywhere we go. There is a building in Dublin that houses hundreds of workers every day and has been getting a fire certificate once per month for years. If that building went on fire, there would be chaos in this city. I am not saying that we take the same approach with our elderly population in this instance but there must be some way to address the problem while they arein situ, for example, by moving a very small number out. The Minister of State referred to a minimum of 12 months, which is crazy. There is a golf tournament that will manage to get a road built ahead of schedule. Why can we not consider other possibilities?

I visited patients in these units a number of years ago and, as far as I remember, the units had been refurbished. Why was this issue not spotted at that stage? The units are perfect for this role. Where will the staff end up? It also needs to be taken into account that there are residents who are wards of court and who have no one to advocate for them.

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