Dublin Today??

Bad Fact about Dublin:In the North Side suburb of Donaghmede 240 people who reside in an apartment block called Priory Hall have been evacuated because the premises is below acceptable fire safety standards. This building was built in 2006 and not as you would expect 1906 when fire safety was not really considered.

Priory Hall - Donaghmede Dublin

Dublin City Council have had to move all 240 residents to a hotel in Whitehall Dublin at a cost of €4,000 a day. Dublin City Council have been instructed by the high court to pay the hotel costs as the developer, Mr Thomas McFeely and his associate Mr. Larry O'Mahony do not have the means to cover the cost of the re-housing.

Mr Tom McFeely

Mr McFeely was in the IRA and was a prisoner in the Maze prison in 1980 and went on a 53 day hunger strike. He was sentenced to 26 years in prison for his part in post office robbery and the attempted murder of a Northern Irish Policeman in a gun battle. He served 12 years in total and upon his release in 1989 he came to Dublin to work on the building sites.
The developers have agreed to bring the building up to acceptable standards by November 28th which means that at a minimum Dublin City Council will be faced with a bill for €172,000 if the repairs are completed on time. This is money that will have to be found or moved from some budget that is there to give some form of service to the people of Dublin so again the taxpayer must pay for the developers.
The developer and his associate must submit their means to the court by Friday this week for the Judge to make a decision. This case has been in the news for the past few days since the Fire Service brought a case to the High Court last Friday looking to close down the site due to the shortcomings in the safety of the building. The High Court Judge decided that the Fire Service should remain on site all weekend to allow residents to pack up their items and find alternative accommodation by 17/10/2011 when the site would need to be evacuated.

Priory Hall Residents at the courts 17/10/2011

This building was built at the height of the Celtic Tiger by utterly greedy developers with little or no regard for the safety of people who had to borrow 100% mortgages to purchase their dream homes (or the home they could afford at the height of the property boom).
The problem in the building is defects with the fire safety barrier in the external wall which means that if a fire was to start in any of the apartments it would spread like wildfire to the remaining apartments. This situation would mean that residents would not have the recommended time to vacate the building and this would therefore put human life in danger.
When the building was finished an architect signed off on the fire safety following a visual inspection and after viewing letters from the sub contractor responsible for the fire safety that the works had been carried out to the highest standard.
Residents of other apartment complexes around the city and it's surrounds are now living in fear that their premises may have also been built to standards that are below what is acceptable in 21st century.