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Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

Enda Kenny vows to crack down on cowboy developers

“Nobody wants to go back to the bad old days of the construction and property boom.”

THE TAOISEACH HAS said that the Government will not tolerate any more construction disasters such as pyrite-filled housing estates and the giant fire hazard that was Priory Hall.

Enda Kenny made the comments while addressing the Grant Thornton Annual Property and Construction Conference, which was held in Croke Park this morning.

“A big part the Government’s recovery plan is to support a sustainable recovery in the construction sector,” Kenny said.

“The spectacular crash in the sector has caused widespread hardship and ruin for many and acted as a drag on the economy.

“Nobody wants to go back to the bad old days of the construction and property boom.

That won’t benefit the country, young families or the sector itself.

In rebuilding a construction sector based on excellence and quality we have to stand up and confront the major deficiencies in the sector that tolerated poor standards through a weak regulatory and enforcement regime.

We will not tolerate any more Priory Halls or pyrite housing estates.

In 2011, some 300 residents were forced to leave their homes over fire safety concerns at the Priory Hall housing complex, built in Donaghmede by developer Tom Feely.

After a long-running legal battle, residents eventually reached a deal with stakeholders in the estate. Refurbishment works began on the property earlier this year.

Funding for developers

The Taoiseach noted that “the days of developers accessing 100% debt finance from banks are over.”

As we know this reckless approach to credit led the construction sector, the financial sector, and the wider economy off a cliff when the downturn hit.

Any developers under the illusion that they can wait for these old financing conditions to return will be waiting a long time.

We need new thinking and new, more sustainable, approaches, including a more central role for equity financing.

In this regard, Kenny said that a High Level Working Group chaired by the Department of Finance was established under Construction 2020 to examine “sustainable models of bank and non-bank financing for the construction sector”.

Kenny noted that the Central Bank is currently consulting with stakeholders on the merits of “imposing new, prudential limits on mortgage lending by regulated banks”.

Earlier this month the body announced that homebuyers will be required to raise 20% of the value of a property as their deposit.

The Taoiseach said that the Government was also considering introducing a mortgage insurance model to support first-time buyers. A similar initiative alrwady exists in the UK, Finland and Canada.

Kenny added that there were signs of growth in construction, with 3,600 new jobs created in the sector in the last year.

Explainer: What is happening with Priory Hall?

Read: Refurbishment works to begin on Priory Hall – and there are hopes for a name change

Read: ‘No ill will’: Stephanie Meehan’s classy response to McFeely suicide comment

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77 Comments
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    Mute ☘
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    Aug 28th 2019, 9:46 AM

    people can move all around ireland with guns and drugs and i bet if i drove one day without road tax i would be in court,

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    Mute Ed Collins
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    Aug 28th 2019, 9:50 AM

    @☘: and rightly so

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    Mute The long walk home☘️
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:01 AM

    @Ed Collins: who is giving you thumbs up , have you 17 accounts? people really believe it should be easier move around Ireland with guns than a dodgy tax disc. No wonder we’re screwed

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    Mute STOIC SAVAGE
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:03 AM

    @The long walk home☘️: no one said that though??

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    Mute Mjhint
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:08 AM

    @Ed Collins: shows where your priorities lie. We have a traffic corpin Ireland with poor resources to serious crime all the way up to the prison service & road tax is yours and the government’s priority. Orwell described you well. No louder voice to be heard defending an oppressor than that of the oppressed. It’s people like you who have the country and its people on it’s knees.

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    Mute The long walk home☘️
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:19 AM

    @STOIC SAVAGE: that was his point or did it go way over your head?

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:49 AM

    @☘: In fairness, it’s far easier to spot an untaxed car than it is to spot a car carrying guns or drugs. And just as an aside, if you end up in court for driving an untaxed car, it means your tax has been out of date for a hell of a lot longer than one day. You have one month from expiry date of your motor tax to get it renewed. Its written on your renewal notice. Go into a second month untaxed and you pay a penalty when you finally do tax it, and you may get an on the spot fine. 3rd month you’d certainly get a fine and theres a risk the car could be impounded. Purely anecdotal, but from what I’ve seen/heard you’d really need to be taking the mick to end up in court for non-payment of motor tax alone, ie, expired for a year or more.

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    Mute Jesse James
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:59 AM

    @Mjhint: We don’t have Traffic Gardai in Ireland. They are regular Gardai in cars marked Roads Policing.

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    Mute Paul
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:33 AM

    @Jesse James: incorrect. We have a dedicated Roads Policing Unit, they are appointed to those units and are no longer on the regular units.

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    Mute my name
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:36 AM
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    Mute STOIC SAVAGE
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:59 AM

    @The long walk home☘️: nah…. His point was both are illegal and rightly punishable by law… Think it was your head it went over pal

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    Mute Thomas Maher
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    Aug 28th 2019, 12:12 PM

    @☘: they dont drive around with guns taped to the windscreen theyre a bit harder to spot than the lack of a tax disc

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    Mute The long walk home☘️
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    Aug 28th 2019, 9:54 AM

    life should mean life, some of these people are out after 11 years still young men.

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    Mute MickN
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:12 AM

    Another week another tragedy in Louth.. For the size of the county its never out of the news…

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    Mute Conor V
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:39 AM

    @MickN: it’s a bid County :)

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    Mute Leo Lalor
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:46 AM

    How long is this feud going on. Like the kinehan hutch feud and it appears all the gardai are capable of is hiding on motorways catching you at 125 kph. Traffic corps are a waste of resource for the public. Fianna Gael love them . Revenue collection

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    Mute Michael Kavanagh
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:58 AM

    @Leo Lalor:
    The auld penalty points mounting up, are they? Try a simple solution – obey the rules of the road- it works!

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    Mute John Joe & Bridie
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:58 AM

    @Leo Lalor: Yawn

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    Mute Eamonn Ó Maoldomhnaigh
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    Aug 28th 2019, 12:54 PM

    @Leo Lalor: A good few of the Hutch/ Kinehan murders have been solved but don’t let that stop your bit of Garda bashing.

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    Mute Seaniecp
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    Aug 28th 2019, 1:37 PM

    @Leo Lalor: I’m sure more people die on the roads each year then to gangland violance. Maybe I’m wrong.

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    Mute Think Before You Buy
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    Aug 28th 2019, 1:06 PM

    The violence, not just in Louth, but across the country is directly related to the vast amount of money generated through using drugs for recreational purposes. It is for control of the area in which this money is spent that these gangs are fighting to control. Remember it always harms someone THINK BEFORE YOU BUY http://www.thinkbeforeyoubuy.ie

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    Mute aYoungRory
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    Aug 28th 2019, 2:04 PM

    I’m calling for a head banger hunger games this year.
    Let every wannabe lunatic in Ireland meet up in Longford on December 8th when it’s empty for Culchie Christmas…. No holds barred, no innocents hurt and less than 2k damage done. We can hold a mass funeral at 12 midnight for the fallen and crown the last standing survivor ‘Hardest Man in Ireland’.

    Danny Dyer can present the trophy to him moments before we fire both men into the surface of the moon.

    Then we take the homes of the losers and redistribute them to the homeless.

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    Mute Maciej Zadorozny
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    Aug 28th 2019, 1:18 PM
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