Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate Deputy Bacik.

I wish to raise awareness of homeowners who are awaiting the outcome of the working group to assist some 90,000 apartment owners who are living in Celtic tiger legacy apartments with substandard fire safety provisions. In some instances, there are no fire retardant measures at all. I am in constant contact with homeowners who have been obliged to pay exorbitant fees to rectify the substandard fire safety provisions in their complexes and who are also paying mortgages for homes they believed to be safe. A defects working group was established under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, but for some weeks now there have been rising tensions between departmental officials and the members of the working group regarding setting the terms of reference. I have listened to parents talk about their fears at night when they are putting their children to bed. They are afraid about whether they will get out if there is a fire and whether they are safe.

Homeowners are completely innocent in this situation. I believe there has been almost criminal behaviour on the part of builders who have knowingly cut corners. There also was a failure in enforcement of building regulations and standards. The Minister must intervene with the working group to ensure that the terms of reference that are established address the needs of homeowners. The redress must have a retrospective element. If one is a professional landlord, one can write off the cost of remediation against tax, whereas homeowners who are paying mortgages are unable to do that. We have to address that in this year's budget. We also must create a register of builders who have allowed this situation to occur and block them from bidding and tendering for work in the State, paid for the State, until such time as they have addressed the outstanding defects. They cannot walk away and pretend they have clean hands. So far, nobody has died, but it will be too late after a fire and deaths occur to address this situation. We need action on it now.