Remediation scheme for Celtic Tiger apartments a long time coming

The Government has finally green-lit a remediation scheme focused on Celtic Tiger-era apartments. It could cost €2.5bn, but, asks Mick Clifford, does it go far enough?

The remains of six terraced houses in Millfield Manor, Newbridge, Co Kildare, which caught fire in April 2015 and burnt to the ground in half an hour. File picture: Colin Keegan

There have been two serious fires due to appalling safety defects in homes built during the Celtic Tiger years. In March 2002, Louise Wall and her partner Mick Farrell died in an apartment in the recently built Verdemont development in west Dublin.

At the time, a garda superintendent compiled a report recommending prosecution against the developer but nothing came of it. There was no follow-up. Recommendations from a coroner were quietly shelved. In the Ireland of the day, there was no stomach for proper accountability of building standards.