Murphy is discriminating against apartment dwellers

Labour Senator Kevin Humphreys has called for the Minister for Housing to explain his refusal to assist people who were sold apartments with serious building defeats. Senator Humphreys has also queried why the government will not assist apartment owners in Dublin while they are willing to assist homeowners in rural Ireland.

Senator Humphreys said:

“I am baffled by Minster Eoghan Murphy’s refusal to review his position on assisting families living in apartments facing eviction because of safety concerns. There are many apartment blocks with families living in them who are in dire straits. Fire marshals are walking their corridors. These residents are victims of bad planning and this government seems to have exempted itself from playing a role in keeping them housed. 

“This decision is even more ridiculous given that the government are happy, and rightly so, to assist homeowners elsewhere in the country, most recently in Mayo and Donegal. The Government is bringing in a €20 million pilot fund for pyrite and mica remediation for homes, and I welcome it for the people of Donegal and Mayo. 

“Yet, why do family homes in Dublin apartment blocks not deserve similar assistance? The only conclusion I can reach, when faced with such blatant preferential treatment of one group over the other, is that it must be electoral convenient to do so.

“These people purchased apartments in good faith and are left with a legacy issue which is not being addressed. Approximately 70,000 families currently live in apartments with legacy issues. They have been told the State will not take on any liability. 

“All I am asking for equality and fairness. That families living in apartments have the same opportunity to feel safe and secure in their homes, to put down roots, to send their children to school, but above all to feel safe in their apartments.

“If the Minister continues to refuse to meet the tenets, and disregarding their very real and worrying concerns, then I will continue to ask him to come into the Senead and explain his reasoning. He is making a political decision to ignore these families and it cannot be allowed to continue”