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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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Ahhhhhhh its a great little country ain’t it. No future for any young person/s looking to get on the housing ladder. Because when ye eventually get the holy grail loan approved ye be gazzumpd by the the very people who offered ye the house in the first place.KIP.
The Davos Wokes, of which Leo is a ‘young global leader’ have told you straight up that you will own nothing and you WILL be happy about it. What part of this is confusing or continually a surprise for people?
No way. Who would have thought that if you price gouged people, they wouldn’t have money to spend in the local economy? Well, colour me surprised.
@Ciaran Burke: yep, the best time to by a house is now, as the property gurus would say…
This is where the government will stand in and pay the rest so they can take equity and keep the prices high for their developer friends.
Ireland is overrated!
@marian: Well the comments section would give you the impression it’s a third world country
@Mickety Dee: well if you look at our housing and health depts, it keeps going the way it is it won’t be far off.
@Mickety Dee: When you look at the infrastructure and the health system, Ireland is closer to African countries than to continental Europe. The quality of life is higher than in most EU countries, but the standard of life is much lower.
Never had an issue with the health department.
Apart from the occasional wait in A&E – longest was 10 hours, while annoying, was totally understandable due to patient prioritisation.
Yes there’s too many managers, yes money gets wasted, yea, the staff are underpaid & overworked, but when you think of the volume of people they’re seeing, it’s probably not that much based on percentages.
No one can solve the Housing crisis until the promised Referendum on Housing is run and passed asap.
There is no provision in the Irish Constitution, unlike other advanced democracies, on the importance of affordable and secure housing ownership or rental and this is having dreadful consequences on many ordinary people who are left without the security of their own home.
The Referendum must be run asap to enable all the legislation needed to remove the barriers to affordable homes. VAT alone is €28,000 on a new home – obscene. 37% of the price of new homes is “artificial” and can be removed by a Referendum.
https://www.change.org/p/irish-referendum-on-family-home-special-status
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