Priory Hall residents left in the dark as remedial works stall at apartment block

DISPLACED RESIDENTS of the Priory Hall apartment complex held a candlelit vigil outside their still unsafe homes yesterday and called on Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan to meet them.

There was fear and uncertainty among residents who felt “in limbo” as they marked the date that remedial fire safety works were due to be completed.

Some 100 people, including residents, supporters and their children, stood outside the dark and vacant apartment complex in Donaghmede, north Dublin from where some 240 residents were evacuated six weeks ago due to fire safety concerns.

“If work was carried out to schedule we would have been back in there this evening,” residents’ association spokesman Darren Kelly said.

Mr Kelly has moved into a Nama (National Asset Management Agency) apartment with his wife and two children, where rent is currently paid by Dublin City Council. Three weeks ago developer Thomas McFeely and his company were ordered by the High Court to leave the complex after Dublin City Council sought their removal over lack of progress on fire safety works at the development.

Since then no remedial works have been carried out at the site.

Stephanie Meehan pointed to her apartment where she had lived with her husband and two children. “The place is gone to rack and ruin. I think it’s going to be hard to come back,” she said. “I would love to be back into my apartment by Christmas but all the love and pleasure we had is gone from it, the bad memories – they are overtaking all the good memories,” she added.

The residents are concerned about the prospect of paying both rent and mortgages. This depends on the outcome of a forthcoming Supreme Court appeal by Dublin City Council against a High Court order that it pays accommodation costs of residents.

“Uncertainty is the biggest concern – what is going to happen?” Mr Kelly wondered. linked to the failure to complete a schedule of urgent fire safety remedial works at the 187 apartment complex. The case is pending an appeal.

On Friday Dublin City Council asked the\ Supreme Court for an urgent hearing of its appeal against court orders requiring it to pay accommodation and other costs of residents.