An independent report on defective apartments built during the Celtic Tiger period –commissioned by Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien in 2021 and published yesterday – finds that it would not be feasible to penalise the companies involved.
Furthermore, an industry levy is ill-advised as it would include innocent parties, attract legal issues, and impact current construction costs.
Séamus Neely, Chairperson, Working Group to Examine Defects in Housing, in his executive summary addressed to the Minister, says: “The Working Group estimates that of the apartments and duplexes (or associated common areas) constructed between 1991 and 2013, the number that may be affected by one or more defects, i.e. fire safety, structural safety or water ingress defects, is likely to range between 50% and 80%, which equates to between 62,500 and 100,000 apartments/duplexes. Fire safety defects were found to be the most prevalent defects; it is estimated that 40% to 70% of properties may be affected by fire safety defects. Water ingress defects may affect an estimated 20% to 50% of properties, while structural safety defects may affect an estimated 5% to 25% of properties.”
In addition, “The Working Group estimates that the average cost of undertaking the remediation of defects is likely to be approximately €25,000 per apartment/duplex. This translates into a potential overall total remediation cost ranging from approximately €1.56 billion to €2.5 billion. Remedial works may already have been completed in respect of up to 12% of the affected properties. Up to 34% of the affected properties may now be in the process of carrying out remedial works.
Following lengthy consultations with stakeholders and interested parties, the Working Group
concluded that there is no single cause of defects; they tend to arise due to a variety of design, product, supervision, inspection, and workmanship issues, occurring either in isolation or in various combinations.
The Working Group will present recommendations and options to Government colleagues to help address the problems identified in this report.