They have some cheek. Really it is just typical of D.C.C. to do something like this. A word to the wise D.C.C. if you had properly inspected them, rather than just signing off on them without even SEEING them!!! then you wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Do the decent thing and pay for your mistakes.

Completely agree with you Leslie. These civil “servants” in d county councils really don’t care for repercussions of their actions as it simply doesn’t affect them!
We’re in a similar boat. We’re bringing Wicklow County Council to court over health & safety issues with our 3 year old house. Amongst other things, there’s barely any insulation in any of the walls, & they put an oil burner under an air vent from our severely disabled son’s room. Neighbours had pools of water in their ceiling, etc.
Again, the council engineer signed off without ever looking at the houses.
Typical assholes. We’ve enough problems without having to deal with this shit.

For **** sake! Show a bit of compassion. There’s people effectively homeless due to a rogue property developer. Surely the local authority must bear some blame for the situation. Were there no building inspections during the construction of those shoddy apartments? The plans must have been passed by the LA, if appropriate fireproofing was included in the plans in accordance with building regulations it is the responsibility of inspectors, contractors and developers to see that is complied with. How can the council not share some blame?
Not to exonerate the venal, greedy developer in any way. But get these buildings rectified ASAP, let the folks return to their homes, now hopefully safe. And then you can argue the toss with the incompetents and/or criminals to pick up the tab.

Well said Leslie. It was there responsibility but as with all things connected to the government – there reckon there is no accountability required. I hope Justice Kearns does not allow them to abdicate their responsibilities to these people who are in a terribly vulnerable position!

The Ciry manager must resign as he signed a cheque for over 5 million for more than 20 of the apartments and handed the cheque to the developer Tom Mc Feeley. At this time the developer was under investigation for not complying with regulations on another site yet the city manager gives him a cheque. Will he be jailed for any number of crimes – never. He got bonuses like the rest plus whatever else.

Your post worked Jeff. Its indicitative of how these people and organisations seem to treat people. They think they are above all else and that includes the law. Shame on them and shame on Wicklow C.C.

DCC had a responsibility to carry out inspections on these apartments. Coalport has a history of unfinished, shoddy workmanship, surely knowing that, they should’ve been inspecting on a monthly if not weekly basis. Also an bord pleanala should never have given planning permission to a builder who very obviously cuts corners any chance he got! Priory hall is not what was advertised.
The recent developments are totally inhumane.
Priory hall should be torn down and residents rehoused!
If it was you in this predicament I’m sure you’d agree!!

There should be independent inspections of all building works at specific steps in the process. the council has a responsibility to ensure properties built in it’s area comply with building regulations, that shouldn’t just mean signing off on a drawing and trusting the builders to do their thing. It should mean full inspection of ALL properties being built as they are being build.
Building surveys are another crock of crap, when you get a survey done on a property you’re looking to buy, if the surveyor misses something fundamental that they should have spotted they only have to refund you the fee. In Sweden if the surveyor misses something like that they are liable for the cost of repair work. The whole system in Ireland is broken. It needs to be scrapped and completely reworked. Again, we should look at what Iceland is doing in this regard.

Why is everyone so intent that the council (i.e. the taxpayer) should cover these costs? Surely DCC is simply trying to prevent a precedent for taxpayers to have to pay large costs when situations like these arise? The contractor bears by far the most responsibility (which should be, by rights, criminal responsibilty) for failing to implement the terms of the fire cert issued to him by the council. It was a council inspection which brought the extent of the negligence to light. At most the council should pay as a temporary measure, while any assets/ insurances etc held by the contractor are sourced by the courts.

Can’t say much about all of this as it’s been trashed out in the ‘Four Gold Mines’ and you’d need a brief looking over your shoulder before you could utter a word! But I know where I will be telling them to stick their bin charges, water rates, commercial rates. And the fire is blazing away nicely with a fistful of parking tickets tucked at the back.