TÁNAISTE MICHEÁL MARTIN has said it is for the UK authorities to pursue companies over the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 70 people in 2017.

He was responding to comments by former UK housing secretary Michael Gove in the Sunday Times that said criminal prosecutions should be brought against Grenfell Tower cladding firms, including the Cavan-based firm Kingspan.

In his Times article, Gove said there was “insufficient action” on the part of UK and foreign bureaucracies.

“I pressed the Irish government to act against Kingspan without success,” the former Conservative MP wrote.

He also said he was aware of some politicians in London opposed to “robust action”, fearing antagonising neighbouring countries – Ireland and France – where some companies involved in the building’s construction are based. 

Gove also said there are those “claiming that pursuing individual companies abroad will send a negative signal on foreign investment when the priority is growth”.

Speaking to media in Newry, Co Down, on Monday, the Tánaiste said: “I was surprised by those comments by Michael Gove.

“There are proper procedures by which one pursues this, politicians generally don’t get involved in the criminal justice system in the sense that these are matters that do have to be pursued.

“The report has a series of comments and observations to make in respect of a number of companies including Kingspan but that’s a matter for the British authorities to pursue. 

“There are various regulations and laws in place and it’s a matter for the authorities in respect of the jurisdiction to investigate as to whether those laws were properly adhered to or not.”

The final report of the Grenfell Inquiry, published last week, said the west London tower block was covered in combustible products because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation.

Kingspan had, from 2005 and even after the inquiry began in the wake of the fire, “knowingly created a false market in insulation” for use on buildings over 18 metres tall, it said.

France-based company Celotex then, in an attempt to break into the market created by Kingspan, “embarked on a dishonest scheme to mislead its customers and the wider market”, inquiry chairman Martin Moore-Bick said.

With reporting from Press Association