David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This Adjournment matter concerns a housing estate in Kill in County Waterford, where serious fire safety defects have been found in recent times. It is one of the many housing estates built during the Celtic tiger period, where fire safety defects were found because of problems with the development, poor and lax planning and regulation laws, and a lack of enforcement and compliance.

I will give the Minister some background on this issue. The housing estate in question was built during the Celtic tiger years. The local authority got some stock under the Part V mechanism so there were some social and affordable housing units in the possession of Waterford City and County Council. A portion of the houses were sold so there are some private home owners. The remaining unsold housing units ended up in NAMA because the developer went into receivership. It was only when NAMA sold on a number of the unsold units to a voluntary housing association, which got a surveyor in to survey the properties, that serious fire safety defects were found in a number of their homes. Luckily for the voluntary housing association, they were able to renegotiate the price they were going to pay for the houses to cover the costs of remediation. The local authority then had to be notified that this could be a problem in all the houses in the estate.

The local authority, which is Waterford City and County Council, was made aware of the defects and employed a chartered fire engineer to carry out a survey. The fire safety compliance survey carried out by the council highlighted areas of concern in the dwellings with regard to internal fire spread between dwellings. I have the survey here and I will give the Minister some examples of areas of deficiency. The survey noted that on the attic party wall the plasterboard was not properly jointed, reducing the integrity of the party wall. Cavity barriers, where provided, were not fixed properly or were loosely fitted causing sagging and gaps. The cavity closers were missing to the top of external walls. The firestop was missing at the top of the party wall between the cavity closer and roof felt.

It goes on to make five priority recommendations which it asks the local authority to implement in the carrying out of remedial works on the properties. The local authority implemented those at a cost to the taxpayer. The problem is that the private home owners have been left high and dry, as has happened in many of the high-profile cases we have seen in Dublin and elsewhere in recent years. That is unacceptable.

The difficulty in this instance is that the developer is in receivership. There is no legal recourse for these private home owners. They are being told that all they can do is notify the receiver. The local authority has engaged with them but they have been told that all it can do is give them advice. It cannot carry out remedial works because they are private houses.

I have a number of questions for the Minister of State. Does he agree this highlights a lack of standards, regulation and enforcement of regulations in the building of houses? How is it that Waterford City and County Council did not identify these defects when it gained possession of the social and affordable units under the Part V mechanism? That is extraordinary as well. Is it the Minister of State's intention to move towards fully independent mandatory planning inspections such as we have in the North of Ireland? We do not have those here. Why not? Will the Minister of State amend legislation to ensure that if it transpires that developers have not met their statutory obligations, they are held fully accountable and liable? Where a developer is found not to be in compliance and goes into receivership in terms of one company with respect to one housing estate but then sets up a different company and engages in further development, will the Minister of State ensure they cannot hide behind a corporate veil?

The response of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to a parliamentary question on this issue was extraordinary. He stated, "As Minister I have no function in assessing, checking or testing compliance or otherwise of specific works or developments." It is an embarrassment that the Minister has no function whatsoever in these areas. Does he want functions in these areas? Does he want to have responsibility? He should want to have responsibility. What action will the Government take to ensure mandatory inspections take place, that we approve the regulations and that in the future the Minister will have responsibility to deal with these issues?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cullinane for raising this issue. I acknowledge the extremely difficult and distressing situations that certain home owners in Waterford are facing on account of defects in their homes. I understand that Waterford City and County Council is liaising with the residents of the Ceol na Mara development on an ongoing basis in an effort to be of support and assistance to residents at this difficult time.

Part B of the building regulations sets out the statutory standards of fire safety that apply when a new building is constructed to ensure the safety of persons in and about the building. Compliance with the building regulations is first and foremost the responsibility of the owners, designers and builders of the building concerned. As the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has stated previously in an answer to the Deputy's parliamentary question, which he did not like, we have no function in assessing, checking or testing the compliance or otherwise of specific works or developments in this situation.

Remediation of defects is a matter between the parties concerned, the current owners and the builder-developer, their agents and their insurers. This applies also where the owner is a local authority or an approved housing body, both of which are relevant in the context of a number of properties at Ceol na Mara. In this regard, I understand that appropriate measures are being put in place by the local authority and the approved housing body to address any defects within the development's social housing units. If a satisfactory resolution cannot be achieved through dialogue and negotiation, the option of seeking civil legal remedy may be considered. It is understood that the builder-developer in this instance is in receivership and it is therefore important that the receiver is notified of any liabilities at the earliest possible opportunity, which I understand from the Deputy may have happened already.

The local authority's overriding concern in these matters is one of public safety, and its statutory functions under planning, building control, fire safety and housing legislation relate to the enforcement of compliance with statutory obligations. The local authority is not responsible for undertaking remedial works in private dwellings. Nevertheless, its advice and support can be helpful in such situations and, as Minister, I expect Waterford City and County Council to continue to do whatever is reasonable and appropriate to support the residents at Ceol na Mara. I would also urge all concerned to co-operate fully with the local authority in carrying out its statutory functions.

The development at Ceol na Mara in Kill, County Waterford, was completed in 2008, and that developer is currently in receivership. The development consists of 50 semi-detached timber-framed houses of which 28 are privately owned and 22 are social houses. My Department understands that the dwellings may have a range of defects, including inadequate fire stopping. Public meetings and information sessions were arranged by Waterford City and County Council in April 2016 and home owners were given advice on fire safety and provided with smoke alarms and other information.

The Deputy will recall that last year the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Alan Kelly, in the interests of supporting the owners and residents living in developments where concerns regarding non-compliance with fire safety requirements have arisen, announced that a review would be undertaken by an independent fire safety expert to develop a framework for general application in such situations. It is intended that the framework will facilitate local authorities, residents associations and individual home owners who may be in such situations to assess properly the risks they face and to put in place practical and sensible measures to minimise any potential risks in advance of remediation. The independent fire safety expert has completed this task and the report on the matter is currently being considered in my Department with a view to publication shortly. I hope we will discuss that report in the House in the near future.

To answer some of the specific questions the Deputy asked about the standards and regulations that were set, as he knows, this development was constructed in 2008 under a previous set of regulations and enforcement procedures. The previous Fine Gael and Labour Government put in place a new range of regulations, mechanisms and standards to control and monitor the situation in respect of the building of houses. That will change the type and standard of houses that will be built and, as a result, people will be provided with a much better house. It is a shame those standards were not in place in the past, but they are in place now and it is hoped situations such as the one raised by Deputy Cullinane will be prevented from arising in the future. I understand that does not help the residents referred to by the Deputy, but I am answering the specific question he asked about new regulations. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government did a lot of work on bringing forward the changes that took place in the past four or five years and it is hoped they will help to raise the standard of houses built in the future.