Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
IT HAS BEEN ten months since the 256 residents of Priory Hall were evacuated from their homes because of fire safety concerns.
Since then, Dublin City Council has been providing temporary accommodation but no work to remedy the situation at the Donaghmede complex has been undertaken.
The substandard fire safety work had created an environment so hazardous that the council could not allow anyone to live there until €7.3 million worth of repair works were carried out.
One of the previous occupants, Graham Usher, visited his property for the “first time in months” earlier this week.
“Ten months on and nothing has been done,” he told TheJournal.ie. “They look in a bit of a state, as you can image.”
Security personnel, who have been on guard at the complex since 17 October, told Usher to be careful because the number of rats spotted on the grounds has escalated.
The damp problems in individual apartments have also worsened, with one resident noting that mould had started to grow on the walls of her home.
“The place is deteriorating fast,” continued Usher. “There is no electricity so it is just getting dank and damp.”
The financial predicament that the residents now face has “put their lives on hold”. “I think people are struggling at this stage. Almost a year on, people want it to come to an end.
“It is impossible to plan for the future. The temporary accommodation is fine but the problem is living month to month. Living life by court dates. It is the uncertainty that gets to us.”
Dublin City Council are waiting for the hearing date for a Supreme Court appeal against an order which made it responsible for paying for the current housing of the residents.
Last month, the developer Tom McFeely won his appeal to have a three month prison sentence and €1 million fine overturned.
The banks, residents and DCC are also in the midsts of a resolution process but the former residents have declined to comment on the proceedings. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens,” added Usher.
Yesterday, Fine Gael councillor Paddy McCartan said he will ask the Dublin City Manager to claim costs from the sale of the repossessed home of McFeely in order to offset costs the council has had to bear to provide temporary accommodation.
He believes the total bill from the “whole debacle” will reach almost €2 million. The councillor said he will be raising the issue at the next meeting in September.
“Residents and many young families have paid the highest price for the actions of the Priory Hall developer…and nobody has lost sight of that,” he said. “I feel very sympathetic towards them, particularly given they are still responsible to maintain mortgages on these worthless properties.
“However, the council also needed to be recompensed and I will be calling on the Dublin City Manager and council officials to engage with NAMA to ensure that some or all of the proceeds of the sale of McFeely’s former residence on Ailesbury Road in Ballsbridge be transferred to Dublin City Council to ease the financial burden that it now shoulders.”
NAMA could not comment on the request as it does not issue statements on individual debtors.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What ever happened to the Architect who signed off on this development?
Or the fellow in the Council/Dept of Envirnoment
Sipping drinks on some small island near equator under a coconut tree and thinking about his next big project?
The architect signed it off based on a ‘visual inspection’ at the end of the build. This type of cert is and was widely accepted by the law society.
I see this as majorly being the fault of dcc, and they’re lack of any on site investigations to check for regulation compliance. They received over 1.6 million in development contributions fit this apartment block and did absolutely NOTHING to warrant it.
Get our town, Dec.
What yer asking for is accountability….we have none of that round these here parts!
And what that means is we will repeat all the same mistakes in the future as no lessons are being learned.
Christ Almighty ! It’s really only when you see the photos that you realise how absolutely every aspect of the work is shoddy in the extreme. How the hell could any professional sign a cert of completion on that??? The brickwork is done in Braille…
McFeely should be made live in Priory Hall and sleep with the rats…. He would be in good company.
I drive last these apartments on an almost daily basis, at this stage they’re really only fit for demolition but the fat ex developer remains a free man with quite a roof over his head. Silence not only from the government but also his ‘former Republican buddies’ The powers that be should be ashamed.
Stick to facts Matt rather than your propaganda. Sinn Féin Cllr Micheal Mc Donncha has been to the forefront of supporting the residents of Priory hall. Senior SF leaders have also condemned Mc Feely. Why let all that get in the way though of a good auld anti SF rant !!
“Systems failure”!That’s generally the phrase used in this country, when no one is held accountable for gross negligence or sheer incompetency!
All the while Mc feely swans around a free man. Anywhere else and our hunger striker friend would be doin porridge
Maybe it would be more appropriate that that the proceeds from the sale of mcfeely’s home be put into a fund for the residents rather than Dublin city council. Paddy mccartan is portraying all the self serving charcteristics of the fine Gael party when he suggests the money should go to the council. The council are largely responsible for the plight of these poor people but paddy mccartan has shown yet again that he and his party do not give a damn about the people who put them in power.
This is not one bit surprising given the lack of support the priory hall residents have rec’d from the government and in particular fine Gael.. It probably wasn’t the brightest thing for mccartan to say as it will not endear him to the public but oh that’s right fine Gael don’t care about the public.
Would it not be very simple to identify the inspectors who signed off these buildings as safe and have a formal investigation (not a tribunal) . They should also look at other buildings signed off by those inspectors . The developer should be locked up for false representation , sale of goods inappropriate for use/not as advertised, child endangerment and contravention of health and safety laws . It’s a disgrace that 10 months on the situation is worse not better !!!!
Sorcha, the problem is nobody signed off the building as safe. That’s the ‘systems failure’ that petiole are referring to. 1. Its the builders responsibility to build in compliance with building regulations. A builder does not have to have any qualifications or competence. 2. An architect / engineer is allowed sign off based on visual inspection at the end of the build, thus making that cert worthless. 3. The local authority never inspected the build to check regulation compliance. They will argue that they do not have a statutory responsibility to do so, although they are the enforcing body. 4. Fire regulation compliance drawings and details are approved by the local authority prior to work starting, but nobody checks that this work is carried out.
Incompetent builders + hands off enforcement + useless self certification = these fiascos
God help these people.
And
God help the Irish people who will pay over inflated mortgages for the next 10-15 years only to find out one day that they too were sold a worthless, death trap just like Priory Hall.
This is not an isolated case of Celtic Tiger Cowboy, built rubbish.
What a mess , have to feel for the residents , nobody has covered themselves in glory in this debacle , it highlights how wrong so many things in the country are , the lack of accountability , the flimsy fire regulations , poor planning process , slow and ineffective court system , a council that appears somewhat toothless , developers lining their pockets selling dodgy overpriced properties and a political system lacking any sense of urgency to address the people’s concerns.
I drive past there pretty regularly and it’s a very sad sight,like something out of a post Armageddon film scenario. Maybe the Irish Film Board could make use of it… On a more serious note surely the banks that approved mortgages for these buildings without due diligence re surveys and engineers reports should take some responsibility.? Oh no,sorry.what was I thinking? This is Ireland…
how on earth did this happen,absolutely scandalous,it’s shocking the council or whomever signed off on this should be ashamed of themselves,really is horrific stuff,those poor people who bought in good faith deserve a full explanation and recompense from the govt,people should be jailed for this shambles
Why did anyone buy them?
have your say