‘It feels like the government don’t care about people living in defective properties’
RESIDENTS in Park West and Ballycullen are among those who took part in the Not Our Fault campaign, protesting outside the Dail on Tuesday.
Apartment owners were promised emergency funding but subsequently told there is no system in place to disperse funds to affected properties.
In January, the government announced a redress scheme to repair fire safety and defects at up to 100,000 apartments and duplexes, but the scheme, which could run to €2.5 billion, looks a long way off.
Due to financial restraints a lot of apartment owners simply cannot afford the massive bills to make their buildings safe again.
“In the Crescent Building, Park West, we were hit with a €15.9m with equates to €68,500 per apartment owner – no one has access to that sort of cash flow at the moment,” said Park West resident Odettte Doran.
“The minister does not seem to be giving this the matter of urgency it deserves. All along he keeps saying that certified works will be covered, and if we commence works on our building, once it is certified, we will get our money back. But yet there is no guidelines on what is certified and what is not.
“How does the minister expect people to foot the bill and take the risk that they will poke holes in the certified works to save money?
“It feels that the government don’t care about people living in defective properties and leaving them with this huge financial burden on top of a cost of living crisis. People have simply outgrown their homes and have no way out to be able to move on with their lives.”
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