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A WORKING GROUP tasked with assessing the scale of construction defects at Celtic Tiger era apartments and duplexes is expected to finalise its report today and will shortly present it to the Minister for Housing.
The report is expected to show that as many as 100,000 apartments or duplexes are affected by fire safety, water ingress and other defects.
Last week Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik told the Dáil that the report will reveal that every county in Ireland are affected by construction defects, with a particularly acute problem in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Dublin South-Central, Dublin Bay North and Dublin Fingal.
She said up to 44,000 apartments are in the process of being remediated right now. The working group report has estimated that total repair costs across the country could reach up to €2.8 billion.
The working group was established by the Department of Housing in February last year. It was tasked with examining the scale of fire safety and structural safety defects in apartments and duplexes built between 1991 and 2013. It will also report to the minister on costs associated with repairs.
The group is expected to finalise its report later today and present it to Minister Darragh O’Brien.
Homeowners who have spoken to The Journal have received bills of between €15,000 and €20,000, with some complaining they were given a short period of time to come up with large lump sums.
Those who could not or refused to pay faced what some described as “frightening” legal threats, even, in some cases, after they had made offers of alternative pay arrangements.
Although the most prominent defects relate to fire safety, some complexes also have water ingress which causes damp issues in their homes and adding thousands of euro to their repair bills.
Responding to Bacik in the Dáil last week, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar acknowledged that people have been “left in a terrible limbo where they are unable to sell the apartment and they are worried about whether it is even safe for them to continue to live there”.
“The government responded to the issues that arose with pyrite and it has responded with the new mica scheme for Donegal and other counties. I believe we will need a response to assist people who are facing large bills as a result of defects in apartments,” he said.
Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath also last week told RTÉ News that the burden cannot solely fall on the State and that “the industry will have to step up to the mark as well in order to meet the overall costs”.
However the construction industry has warned that any levy applied by the government would impact on construction projects and push property prices up.
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This can be laid at the FF door…they decided to abolish the clerk of works officer that used to oversee construction on pretty much every site around
Why..because the developers told them to and now the citizens are back on the hook for billions….will someone try to find Tom parlon love to here his excuses
In the end… The government will not take responsibility for managing builders…. And generally, builders will not take responsibility for what they’ve built.
Ultimately, the owners and the public will foot the bill.
Sad and frustrating… Especially when you see examples, ifrom other countries where laws force builders and the supporting industry to be held accountable. Ireland fails to incorporate any of these examples fully.
How long has it taken the government to even take notice of this? I lived in one such affected apartment, we had meeting after meeting in Leinster House, a meeting scheduled with the Minister for Housing that was then cancelled, after which point all our communications went ignored and the non-fireproof door absolutely slammed in our faces. A 13k bill when you’ve lost your job due to illness is no joke. Seeing Grenfell Tower on fire and then coming back to a home you know isn’t fire safe – no words. I now live in a house built in the 1930s.
Who is looking at the schools, hospitals, commercial units built during this time also – because they are most definitely going to be affected too.
And who is currently visiting construction sites around the country, multiple visits AS THE UNITS ARE BUILT, to check they’re to code? Nobody. Defects are still being created as I write this.
This “Government” has to go.
@Clare McAfee: Good comment Clare.
Does this report list the names of individuals and companies who are responsible for building these death traps?
Is there prosecutions completed and pending for the criminal behavior outlined?
Will assets and funds of companies and individuals be seized to pay the remediation? Are these companies in contract with the state today on building projects?
Are all current building projects up to spec or will the taxpayer be on the hook for tens of billions again in 10, 20 years times?
As per Clare, schools, hospitals etc built in the last 20/30 odd years are they all safe or are they keeping that scandal for when this one has died down?
How many more mica/schist cases are there, what are the locations, what will be the estimated cost in billions to the taxpayer to address the issue?
And Minister O’Brien, finally, how many citizens, under the care of the state in theory, are currently at risk of death from fire or building collapse because of the failure of their government then and now?
The professional journalist approach would be to name the individuals responsible and to find out if they are still building. It wouldn’t take much to find out who built the defects.
@Misty Eyed Mutton: They’ve generally gone out of business. They hadn’t kept funds in reserve to handle any issues once people moved into substandard construction having bought in good faith. Safeguards were in place but that’s all the “red tape” that they lobbied to do away with.
They appear to have a regulator now for everything and anything ,not sure any of it makes any difference. Meanwhile the Cowboys have rode off into the sunset.
What gas is this is going on over 10 years and the pyrite issue was solved well before this even became an issue those poor people need to be helped asap
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