Sir, – Pat Leahy reports Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien as being “angry” that developers have been able “to walk away from defective apartment blocks” – 100,000 of them – and that “the Government has no plans to pursue them” (“O’Brien ‘angry’ at rogue apartment developers”, News, October 30th).
The estimated cost or remediation to the taxpayer is estimated at over €2 billion.
The administrative and political incompetence and indifference that have allowed this scandalous waste of public money to occur, not to mention the pain and cost inflicted on hundreds of thousands or residents, cannot be allowed to happen again. The culture of impunity that prevails is breathtaking. It could only occur in a country that is awash with an easily earned tax bonanza.
What we need to hear from Mr O’Brien is that, with a sustained building boom now imminent, the necessary inspectorate resources are in place to ensure strict compliance with the highest standards, together with enforceable legislation incorporating punitive sanctions for breaches of these standards. – Yours, etc,
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EDDIE MOLLOY,
Dublin 6.
