Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. There has been recent media coverage about issues relating to boom time construction. I have been dealing with a group of residents in the Belmayne area. I am reluctant to name particular areas because of the reputational damage doing so can cause but we are at the stage where the relevant information is in media circles. It is time for action.

The Irish Timesreported this week about apartments in Clongriffin and about owners facing a bill of €826,000 to remedy serious fire safety issues found at their block. Residents have been informed that fire would not be contained within any compartment of the building for more than 30 minutes - rather than the 60 minutes required under the regulations - and the owners will have to pay between €4,246 and €6,676 per apartment to remedy the defects. A letter was recently circulated as a result of a public meeting I organised with my colleague, Mr. Shane Folan, in Belmayne. The letter was sent by the management company to residents. It outlined that the management company was due to proceed with an immediate fire safety inspection and it intended to complete a further survey of the balconies in the block. The management company has accepted that the balconies are defective. Further surveys will identify what repair work is required.

The residents want to know who is on their side. There is any amount of overlapping interest between management companies, developers, Dublin City Council and the fire officer. The residents want to know if the Government is on their side. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland is suggesting that the Government establish an emergency fund in order to assist these residents. I presume the Minister of State will agree that the owners of apartments which are proven to be defective should not be left out of pocket. Some of these residents have already been obliged to dish out €3,000 in order to find out if their apartments were affected by pyrite. These residents are victims of boom time construction which has proven to be defective. They want to know if the Government is going to be on their side. Is the Government going to advocate for them or is it going to wash its hands of this matter?

At the time of the Priory Hall issue, the former leader of the Labour Party and former Deputy, Eamon Gilmore, was proactive in meeting and talking with residents and anybody who could find solutions to that situation. We eventually found a solution, although not before a significant amount of hurt and upset were caused.One man was driven to take his own life at that time. I have met residents of the area repeatedly and they are under an understandable amount of stress. They wish and hope that the Government can assist them by providing some support and can be on their side. I am interested in hearing the Minister of State's view on the suggestion by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland that an emergency fund be established by Government to assist residents who, through no fault of their own, are out of pocket and living in apartments which are clearly not safe. Someone else is at fault here and I will be interested in hearing the Minister of State's response.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Ó Ríordáin for raising this Commencement matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, who is in the other House.

I acknowledge the extremely distressing and stressful circumstances faced by the owners and residents of buildings that have defects. In general, building defects are matters to be resolved between the contracting parties, in other words, owners, builders, developers and their respective insurers or structural guarantee or warranty schemes. While the Department has overall responsibility for establishing and maintaining an effective regulatory framework for building standards and building control, it has no general statutory role in resolving defects in privately owned buildings, including dwellings, nor does it have a budget for such matters. In this regard, it is incumbent on the parties responsible for poor workmanship or the supply of defective materials to face up to their responsibilities and take appropriate action to provide remedies for affected homeowners.

In the case of multi-unit development such as the Belmayne development to which the Senator referred, the legislative position is very clear in terms of where responsibilities lie. Under the Building Control Acts 1990 to 2014, primary responsibility for compliance of works with the requirements of the building regulations, including Part B which has regard to fire safety, rests with the owners, designers and builders of buildings. The aim of the building regulations is to provide for the safety and welfare of people in and about buildings. Enforcement of the building regulations is a matter for the 31 local building control authorities which have extensive powers of inspection and enforcement under the Acts and which are independent in the use of their statutory powers. As such, I am not in a position to comment on a specific development.

When a building is constructed and occupied, statutory responsibility for fire safety is assigned by section 18(2) of the Fire Services Act 1981 to the person having control of the building. In multi-unit developments, the person having control is generally the management company. Under the Multi-Unit Developments Act 2011, the owner or management company must establish a scheme for annual service charges and a sinking fund for spending on refurbishment, improvement and maintenance of a non-recurring nature of the multi-unit development.

In terms of addressing fire safety issues, it should be noted that in 2017 the Department published a framework for enhancing fire safety in dwellings where concerns arise. This framework is a guide for the owners and occupants of dwellings where fire safety deficiencies have been identified or are a cause for concern. Furthermore, in the aftermath of the fire at Grenfell Tower in June 2017, and in recognition of fears expressed in respect of fire safety, the Department's national directorate for fire and emergency management was asked to convene a task force to lead a reappraisal of our approach to fire safety in Ireland. In its report the task force acknowledged the importance of fire safety in apartment buildings and made a number of recommendations, which are being implemented.

In response to the building failures that have emerged over the past decade, the Department has advanced a robust and focused building control reform agenda which has included amendments to the building control regulations, the establishment of a shared services national building control project, and the ongoing development of new legislation through the building control (construction industry register Ireland) Bill. These reforms have brought, and will continue to bring, a new order and discipline to bear on construction projects, creating an enhanced culture of compliance with building regulations.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State. Unfortunately I am disappointed with his reply. I accept that the Department is doing as much as it can for future developments.From the Minister of State's answer it seems that while residents face dealing with a series of overlapping agencies including the city council, the fire officer, the developer and the management companies, the Department is effectively sidestepping and saying it cannot intervene. I impress upon the Minister of State the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland's suggestion of an emergency fund to ensure that residents are not out of pocket. The Department must take this suggestion seriously. It does not come from me, but from an eminent organisation.

If I was one of these apartment owners living in Belmayne or Clongriffin, I would want to feel that the Department was not neutral or on the sidelines but actively engaged, concerned and trying to do something about it. Unfortunately, I do not get this impression from the Minister of State's answers. I would impress on him again, and on the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, that this is and should be their concern. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government must be cognisant of this.

I find it ironic when the Minister criticises me and people like me for casting a critical eye over planning applications that reach our desks. This is what happens when due diligence is not carried out. Ten years later we find ourselves looking at a situation like this because a developer with a profit motive went into an area, built a couple of apartment blocks and was never seen again, leaving a management company to pick up the mess. Residents are looking at costs of thousands of euro to fix the apartments in which they live. The stress this imposes on their day-to-day lives is immeasurable. I would suggest that we need a better response from the Department, and I ask the Minister of State to impress on Deputy Eoghan Murphy the need for a better response and for him to get off the fence and stand in the residents' corner.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I do not accept that the Department is neutral, nor should it be. However, the Department and the Government have a responsibility to the taxpayer and they cannot open up a potential liability. There are more than 200,000 apartments in the country. A responsible Government cannot be in the business of being the first port of call for building defects. I am not particularly familiar with the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland and its request for an emergency fund, but it strikes me that it might have skin in the game. Some of its members were surely part of surveying some of these buildings. It might be opportune for that organisation to suggest that the taxpayer should foot the bill.

The people responsible for doing the dodgy work that leads to situations like the one in Belmayne and the other professionals who are involved in such projects should be the first port of call in seeking genuinely necessary compensation for people who find themselves living in a building with big defects through no fault of their own. Responsibility must be on the professionals who constructed and signed off on such buildings.

I take the Senator's general point that the Government and the Department should not be neutral, and I will emphasise this to the Minister. They certainly should not be and as far as I am concerned they are not. Equally, the taxpayers cannot be the first people expected to put their hand in their pocket when professionals do not do their job.