The Irish government has approved a repair scheme costing up to €2.5bn to fix fire safety and other defects in 100,000 apartments and duplexes built during Ireland's Celtic Tiger boom era.
Lax construction oversight during the economic boom of the mid-1990s to late-2000s led to homeowners being handed huge repair bills in recent years, as inspections revealed inadequate fire-stopping and other defects in their homes. The Irish cabinet finally approved the scheme at a meeting this morning, and the Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien told reporters:"Today, I believe, is a really important step forward for the homeowners who for 10/15 years have been living with despair, distress and no hope of bringing their homes back to safe and secure environments for them and their families to live in.
Retiree Debbie Horan remembers the moment she was hit with an €18,000 repair bill for fire defects that came to light after a blaze in a neighbouring property. "We were all absolutely horrified", she says,"just horrified." In 2001, Debbie had purchased a two-bed property at the Linden apartment development in Blackrock, Co Dublin, which was built in the late 1990s.