Homeowners still in ‘state of limbo’ with redress scheme

THE redress scheme announced last week by the Irish government to repair up to 100,000 apartments and duplexes with fire safety and other defects, was welcomed but homeowners are still in a “state of limbo” as to the actual work that will be carried out.

Details of the scheme, which could run to €2.5 billion, to repair defective apartments built during the Celtic Tiger era, are still to be ironed out.

Members of the ‘Not Our Fault’ campaign, who include apartment and duplex owners in Park West and Hunterswood, Ballycullen, formed a bond last year upon discovering they were in the same boat.

They  acknowledge more work is to be done, citing concerns at the “dilution” of the Mica scheme, according to Sam Doran, a Crescent Building resident in Park West.

“We don’t know if we are going back down the same road again, as they are saying certified works but not saying if there is a list of government contractors that would do the works to the specifications required. So, still in a bit of limbo. We have a number of TD’s raising the issue in the Dail and Seanad looking for a timeline as this is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed.”

TD Paul Murphy (Sol), who was among those supporting campaigners, said a full redress is the only thing that should be accepted.

“We’ve seen before how Mica scheme was announced as 100 per cent, but was significantly less. This must be 100 per cent, fully retrospective and rapidly implemented,” said Deputy Murphy.

Members of the Not Our Fault campaign have campaigned outside the Dail, and were invited into the Dail gallery last December to watch the Sinn Fein motion on defects.

Mr Doran got a chance to talk to Housing Minister Darragh O Brien, requesting an “in-person meeting” but they are still waiting on confirmation of this with the minister.

The redress scheme announced last week was a “sigh of relief” for a lot of people but their battle is not over with insurance for Park West residents due for renewal on December 31.

“Our insurance company gave us a month to come up a plan to commence work on our building as we are looking at a budget of €15.9 million, but we cannot finance a plan on such a large scale,” said Sam.

The Park West complex, containing 232 units over nine blocks, was built in 2003, during the Celtic Tiger.

The builders responsible are still in business, but trading under a different name – a situation similar to potentially 100,000 homes across the country, according to a report commissioned last year by Minister O’Brien.

Affected residents are realistically looking at early 2024 before the scheme is rolled out.

Although the minister said that there would be emergency measures, residents don’t know where to avail of this as they await to see if their insurance will be renewed.

“We looked around other insurance companies for quotes and they said they are not quoting for developments with fire defects they said maybe we should look at the English market, and it would be in the region of €150,000 to €190,000 with a €10 million excess,” said Sam.

“So essentially, we would have insurance with no insurance. We feel that when the government has accepted responsibility for all these affected apartments and now, we can’t get insurance on them, I think it should be up to the government to under write fire claims until the buildings are made safe as they had no problem stepping in for PMPA and Quinn insurance when they collapsed and it is the same here.”