Deputy Leader Catherine Martin made the call and announced the Dáil will debate and vote on improved regulation of building standards and quality; the implementation of remedial schemes to assist homeowners to resolve serious structural and safety issues resulting from grossly defective building standards; and also provide new legal rights and remedies to protect home buyers.
She said: "We submitted this motion a number of weeks ago, but the tragic inferno at Grenfell Tower in London earlier last week has brought this issue to the fore. The overriding priority underpinning all construction must be the safety of residents. There is no doubt about it – under the current rules and regulations, we could easily have a blaze like Grenfell in Ireland. We have already seen examples inadequate fire safety in the likes of Priory Hall and Longboat Quay.
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"There are tens of thousands of homes in this country affected by shoddy building work and failures in building control. We have seen this in a number of developments, where fire-proofing wasn't completed properly, problems with water ingress, homes blighted by pyrite and by the risk of defective and sub-standard concrete blockwork, which may affect thousands of homes in Donegal and Mayo. We must do everything in our power to prevent this from happening to another generation of homeowners."
(CD/LM)
