Government criticised for slow progress on remediation for Celtic Tiger-era homes

Wed, 11 Feb, 2026 - 01:00

Tadgh McNally

The Government has been criticised for slow progress on remedying fire safety defects in Celtic Tiger-era apartments, more than two years on from a remediation scheme opening.

Sinn Féin has said it is “unacceptable” that only three projects have received funding, with just one progressing to works so far.

In a response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin, housing minister James Browne said that funding had been granted to three remediation projects, which will account for works on 533 apartments.

Mr Browne said the funding allocated to the three schemes is €21.3m.

A report in 2022 found that there were over 100,000 apartments built between 1991 and 2013, which could be impacted by fire safety, structural safety, or water ingress defects.

In total, 20,940 apartments have met the eligibility criteria for the remediation scheme, with the majority located in Dublin.

The scheme is currently being progressed on an interim basis, while legislation is progressed through the Dáil.

Mr Ó Broin condemned the Government for not progressing the works more quickly, highlighting that a fraction of the apartments impacted have received funding for repairs.

“It is utterly unacceptable that two years on from the opening of this emergency fire safety fund, only 3 projects have received grant approval and works have only started on one scheme. This scheme is for emergency fire safety works, where people’s property, and in some extreme cases, their lives are at risk,” Mr Ó Broin said.

Some developments that have applied are paying for 24-hour fire wardens to ensure residents safety. Despite this, just 2% of the 20,940 residential units that have been deemed eligible for the scheme, have received funding, and to date no home has actually been made safe.

The Sinn Féin TD said the Government needed to treat the scheme with “far greater urgency”

“There needs to be a significant acceleration of the processing times and grant approvals for all eligible developments. People who have done nothing wrong deserve to be able to feel safe in their homes,” Mr Ó Broin said.

“The Minister also needs to accelerate the legislation for the wider Celtic Tiger era building defects scheme and include all 19 recommendations from the Joint Oireachtas Housing Committee’s pre legislative scrutiny report published last month.”