Longboat Quay: Shoddy building is a national crisis waiting to happen

It was on one level somewhat appropriate that Environment Minister Alan Kelly was absent when the issue of the deplorable state of affairs surrounding the 900 residents who occupy 298 apartments in the Longboat Quay development was raised in the Dáil.

You see, when it comes to protecting the rights of homeowners across the entire state, the minister and his predecessors have always been absent. Both he and his predecessors, with their laissez-faire attitude to environmental regulations, have been even worse than absentee regulators of the rights of house purchasers.

We are well and truly reaping the consequences of this ‘throw the houses up Patsy and let her fly’ policy — and not just in Priory Hall or Longboat Quay.