Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

I am confident there will be plenty of volunteers.

Yesterday I raised the issue of the unfortunate situation in north Dublin. It has come to may attention that there may well be other such developments in this city whose status will be adjudicated on in the courts. Will the Leader invite the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, and the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Willie Penrose, to the House in order to ascertain the extent of this problem? These difficulties have arisen because the building regulations that were in place for the last ten years were not enforced. While developers secured planning permission on the basis of their adhering to all the regulations, the inspection process completely collapsed once the developments were completed.

The sad reality is that many of the dodgy engineers and architects who signed off and certified these buildings are now out of business. Who will ultimately be responsible for the bill? It is completely unacceptable that it should be the taxpayer. This is an extremely serious issue, with thousands of houses throughout the State constructed in a questionable manner.

There are blocks of apartments and other developments throughout this city and in the other major cities where the building regulations were severely compromised.