Residents of Priory Hall staged protest outside the Dail on Nov 29 – and will be back again to protest against the budget on Dec 6. They are calling for action to ensure their apartments are refurbished promptly; and to ensure that they don’t have to pay both the mortgages on the apartments and the cost of emergency accommodation. The High Court recently ruled that Dublin City Council should cover the costs of accommodation, but the Council has challenged that ruling in the Supreme Court. So the residents are stuck – not knowing when they will get their homes back or who will pay for emergency accommodation.
This is yet another example of the problems arising from the building boom. Developers got away with putting up sub-standard buildings due to inadequate regulation and insufficient numbers of building inspectors – a toxic combination of cowboys and government de-regulation. Home-owners and residents are now carrying the can for this.
Nor is it clear whether the Priory Hall builder, Tom McFeeley, has the money to do the safety repairs needed. Yet he has a big house worth millions on Aylesbury Road. As McFeeley is responsible for the problems in Priory Hall, any difficulties regarding finance to remedy these problems should come back to him. If he doesn’t have the cash, the state should seize his other assets to pay for repairs and refund residents for their costs and the loss of value of their homes. In the meantime the residents should be assured their accommodation will be funded while the government and DCC sort out the safety issues in Priory Hall.