Indeed. The residents deserve better. I really feel sorry for the residents. I hope an end to their plight is in sight.

This situation is a national disgrace.
Phil Hogan should be drummed out of office for his bone-idle lack of action here.
McFeeley should be stripped of every penny he owns, clapped in irons and packed off to the clink for a long stretch.
what bothers me most is the thought that Priory Hall CAN’T be unique.
there MUST be more of these places out there that were just lashed together quicj smart during the boom.
The reason we’re not hearing about them: fear.
fear of residents that they’ll be put out on the streets, and the fear of the council of the expense and bad publicity.
message from authority seems to be “Up yours, you live in a fire trap so i don’t get exposed as having sat on my arse and not done my job for the guts of 10 years”
a pox on them.

That makes a lot of sense David

Offering free insurance to property purchasers against dodgy builders would cost billions. This would be a transfer of wealth to property owners from people who rent.

Shouldn’t property owners buy their own insurance and not ask renters to foot the bill? Unless of course you are happy with everyone paying hugely inflated taxes.

If a house burnt down without fire insurance would you want others to foot the bill too?

John Turkey…. eh… do you even know what the topic is here?!

@ Creatively Maladjusted:
The consensus on this comment page seems to suggest that the government should nullify the Priory Hall mortgages. I’m just saying that if the government does this then it will have to take the hit of hundreds of thousands of euro for everyone whose house was built by a dodgy builder. In other words – they’d be getting free insurance from the government.

I have huge sympathy for the Priory Hall owners – but if people want the government to go around handing out hundreds of thousands of euros in taxpayers’ money for every badly built house then people should expect to have huge tax increases or a much poorer health service or social welfare payments etc etc.

The ”Heroes”
O’Brien, Cullen, Wallace, Hogan,Yates,Filan, Grehan, Flemming etc etc.
Pull fast ones,
Walk away from their debts,
Evade paying their taxes,
Refuse to pay their service charges.
As the Joe publics are expected to pay corrupt mortgages at 5-6-7-8+ times their income on glorified shoebox deathtrap squats and generally pick up the tab for everything.
Wake up guys.
Your fine ”leaders and protectors” are walking away from their responsibilities and debts and they have deserted you.
Isn’t it time you followed suit and stopped paying these farcical debts and taxes right now???

@Harry. Nobody forced said people to buy said ‘shoeboxes’, Those who took mortgages in the boom we’re not forced to do so!, in fact they went about with their heads held high and carried themselves with an heir of superiority over the rest of us who rented or lived with our parents! In fact there was almost a stigma attached to people who didn’t “own their own home” , you’d often hear the inlaws or neighbors gossip “Our Stephen bought his own home” , Funny how the tables have turned!

john f are you serious, these people are not complaining because they bought “shoesboxes”. in the boom they were evacuated from their homes which they bought in good faith because of the health and safety risks (through no fault of their own)… and are still paying mortgages as well as having to pay rent, and as of yet no end to this ongoing mess.

Haha, wasn’t it one of your hunger striker republican idols who screwed over these people, mark?

I’m afraid John
If these residential units and their mortgages were food products.
Most of the customers would be dead and the builders,bankers and regulators would be jailed for life.

These products were intentionally laced with poison, and thousands have died as a consequence.
Our country has been depopulated faster than any famine.

Keep being jealous of your neighbors and in laws mate,
Sher it was them who forced the banks write bogus, over inflated, unregulated phoney loans for the last 12 years.
Sher it was them who wanted to live in cowboy built, deathtrap, squats.

@Harry, You missed the point entirely, it was our obsession with owning property in this country that’s partly to blame for the debt crisis, most of our European neighbours are happy to rent while the mindset here was you have to “own your own home” Towards the end people were taking almost 110/120% mortgages while working low income unsecured jobs, yes the banks we’re reckless but those who took 40/50yr loans to buy ‘shoeboxes’ were just as reckless and not much different than the gambler down the bookies putting all his wages on the favourite, “Ah sure it’s the favourite, it’ll never lose!” But I suppose its easier to blame the banks rather than take personnel responsibility!

Please don’t make the mistake John, of comparing Ireland with countries where regulations are actually thought through and enforced and where banks aren’t ran by criminals .
Our banks lent on non existent fundamentals and thousands are dead, and hundreds of thousands have emigrated as a consequence.
Please do not attempt to cover up for criminals.
The truth is coming out.

John F
Your comments are disgraceful and shameless,full of the recognisable arrogance we have all come to associate with government troll. I really would love to see you say these comments face to face with these people who are suffering so cruelly. Get lost you ignoramus and thank your lucky stars that you are not in the same unfortunate position that these priory hall -non-residents find themselves.

Your argument is slurred by your jealously John.

What you are saying is
”don’t blame the murderer for poisoning the water supply”,
”blame his victim’s necessity to drink water”.

People needed 2 basic products in this situation.
(1)a decent quality home a decent price
and
(2)a decent quality mortgage product to purchase their home.

In most cases between 2000 and 2008 they got illegally conned and I personally know numerous occasions where it has ended in death.

It’s time to start jailing the real criminals John.

@Eileen Gabb…. gab nonsense about every article on the journal, an apt surname. My view on the mortgage/financial crisis aren’t directed at the priory hall residents. Take a few deep breaths and step away from the laptop
@Harry, I won’t even respond to your pathetic claims of jealousy! Now now, there’s no need to resort to personal attacks.. You don’t know me and I don’t know you although I appear to have struck a chord with your personal situation? Don’t worry Harry I’m not jealous of your half a million euro mortgage for a property that’s probably worth (and always was worth closer to 100K), you can keep it!
I also think its sickening and an insult to the friends and family of suicide victims that you’re suggesting they’d still be here if it wasn’t for the financial crisis. I’ve lost friends to suicide before the economic crisis so tell me who can I blame for their deaths? People who choose to end their own lives have a lot more going on inside their heads and lives than something as simple as a negative equity mortgage or a debt, there is no single cause or solution for deep rooted depression! Go and educate yourself a little more before making offensive and infantile statements in future!

John F
You have just proved the point I made ….. Your comments are disgraceful and arrogant and are a perfect example of FG spin and show how execrable and low blue shirt comments can get . Maybe it is you who should step away from the keyboard .

I’m afraid John unfortunately for the local people concerned the majority of what was going inside their heads was debt issues.

It was extremely difficult for them being relentlessly squashed between
the hammer of a corrupt bailed out bank’s debt collectors and
the anvil of our inept government’s prehistoric insolvency laws and ignorance.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/banks-are-hounding-borrowers-to-suicide-2644478.html

The reckless lending in Ireland during the boom was nothing short of criminal.

,,,And shame on Us, the people of this Country for putting up with it all. Collectively, We have the power to stop it all.

The Banks are ran by gangsters in suits they have no empathy for nothing only money.This Priory Hall case is just a reflection of the this whole country the new reality is sickening to good honest decent people.They tell us to live the right way and punish you then for doing so scandalous behaviour.

Phil Hogan on the dole and put in hostel housing.That will teach him a lesson.

please don’t take this as a personal dig at you brian but what about the builders and contractors that actually did the substandard work. i understand there was pressure put on workers that if it’s not done quickly and cheaply enough they could be replaced but all the work that was found to be unsafe was physically put there by someone.
the excuse that someone told me to do it that way or i was working off the drawings isn’t acceptable. i work in a very heavily regulated job and if i do something knowingly against the guidelines it’s on my head and nobody elses. i can’t say my supervisor told me to do it, because it’s on me to know better and not do something that will leave somebody at risk. anyway fair play for speaking up i hope the buck isn’t passed all the way down the hill to the ground workers.

Brown envelopes were the norm.

The Government simply cannot concede on Priory as they would by extension be obliged to pay for every single house that was ever built where there is evidence of shoddy standards or defects. We could not afford this level of compensation in the midst of a Bailout situation. Don’t blame the Government as there were many contributors to the debacle.
The purchasers should have had their own Engineers Reports while the Council should have properly inspected the buildings while the builders professional team of architects and engineers should have had indemnity insurance.
Somewhere there is an answer but it doesn’t lie with the State and particularly when it is bankrupt.

Then what makes the government seem to think that they have the resources to throw half a million people in jail for not paying the household charge Paddy?

dead right!
whichever muppet it was that signed off on these death traps did so in the knowledge that the place hadn’t been checked out.
when he signed off on them he endangered the lives of every man, woman and child who would wind up living there.
SURELY that’s a crime?!?!?!?

Harry
I hope you have paid the Household Charge as your silly question to me implies that you haven’t so let me answer your question and show you why you are stupid.
There was never any intention to jail anyone for non payment of the Household Charge as i recall and if I heard that once I heard it a thousand times but the real and potential penalties for being a conscientious objector or non payer are much more frightening than a jail sentence.
Firstly there is a lien or a charge on your house with interest accumulating that sounds relevant only to those intending to sell………but just listen to this…
The registering of a debt on your home could cost you your credit rating. It could cost you your credit card or it might mean that small car loan you want or the Credit Union cash for the holiday or First Communion is not given to you. Indeed there are circumstances where a poor credit rating can cost you a job so please feel free to continue being stupid about a hundred Euro and good luck with the above!

Is that you Bully boy Phil?

Our great ”Ruler”