'I thought the whole block was going to blow': No justice for unsafe apartment owners

There are an estimated 100,000 apartments with fire safety defects dating from the Celtic Tiger building boom

Westmeath County Council has known since soon after The Oaks at Lakepoint, Mullingar, was completed that it was dangerous. Photo: Bob Morrison

Claire Ryan got word of the fire shortly after 5pm on February 25, 2021. Her neighbour was arriving home from work and mentioned that there was a fire out at The Oaks, the development where Claire had lived with her daughter until a few months previously.

“I handed her my daughter and drove down there straight away,” Claire says.