Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

After that grá mo chroí, I can reply to the House.

The events of last week have been extremely distressing and, of course, stressful for the residents of Priory Hall. Through no fault of their own, they have had to struggle with the consequences of building defects in their apartment complex.

As the Senator is aware, Dublin City Council was granted a High Court Order on 14 October 2011 for the evacuation of the development at Priory Hall on the basis that it was unsafe. The Department understands that, following a further hearing on 17 October 2011, a stay was put on the evacuation order until today and that the developer has committed to carrying out a schedule of necessary remedial works in the coming weeks. The court has directed that the first phase of remedial works be completed by 28 November and that all works on the development be completed by 31 January 2012.

Dublin City Council has made arrangements for the temporary accommodation of the affected residents. In addition, I am glad to report that the National Asset Management Agency has identified properties which could be used for this purpose and the city council is now examining the list of properties given to it by NAMA. Such accommodation would no doubt be more appropriate to the needs of families.

The Building Control Acts clearly place responsibility for compliance with the building regulations on the owner of the building concerned and on the builder-developer who carries out the works. Last week's High Court action was the culmination of two years of enforcement activity with the developer. Dublin City Council initiated legal proceedings on 17 August 2010 in respect of compliance with fire safety regulations. As the Senator knows, the enforcement proceedings in this regard are still before the courts.

I will take on board what the Senator said by asking Department officials to contact financial institutions and the Department of Social Protection to deal with matters in regard to mortgages and exceptional payments.

I attach high priority to consumer protection in the area of quality construction of new dwellings. That is why I announced in July a number of measures to be advanced by the Department and local authorities with a view to improving compliance with, and oversight of, the requirements of the building regulations. Implementation arrangements are already under way and I have asked that this be further prioritised.

The regulations required to give effect to the introduction of mandatory certification are currently being prepared and will be the subject of some consultation in the near future. The implementation of the other measures will be progressed by local authorities in consultation with the Department in the context of the wider programme of achieving greater efficiencies in the local government system.

In broad terms, the measures will involve the introduction of mandatory certificates of compliance by builders and designers of buildings confirming that the statutory requirements of the building regulations have been met; more efficient pooling of building control staff and resources across the local authority sector to ensure more effective and meaningful oversight of

building activity; standardised approaches and common protocols to ensure nationwide consistency in the administration of building control functions; and better support and further development of the building control function nationwide. Implementation of these measures is being advanced as quickly as possible in consultation with the relevant stakeholders.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter and assure the residents that I am doing everything possible, with the help of officials in the Department and in Dublin City Council, to advance as quickly as possible progress on these safeguards and on the remediation work requested by the court in respect of this developer.

Developers who act in the manner in which this developer acted must be brought to book as quickly as possible. I am sorry the proceedings have taken so long but it shows that trying to get enforcement proceedings through the court is too slow and too cumbersome and certainly not acceptable to the residents who live in those developments.