Shoddy boom era apartment blocks are a catastrophe waiting to happen

THE appalling tragedy that unfolded in the Grenfell tower block in London last week should be a wake up call for Ireland where many thousands of people are living in boom era apartment blocks that safety experts believe are potentially lethal fire traps. On Monday the death toll from the Grenfell disaster stood at 79, though it is feared that this could rise still further.

That the inferno could have been prevented and the fact that it may have been made worse due to the local council’s efforts to refurbish the building to prevent it from being an eyesore for the wealthier residents of Kensington makes the story even more upsetting.

As grief turns to anger on the streets of London it appears that after decades of inaction the Government in Westminster may finally be forced to acknowledge and address the enormous levels of inequality that exist in the UK .

As such, Grenfell – like the Hillsborough disaster before it – looks set to be a transformative moment for Britain but it should also lead to major changes here.

In one of his first acts as Housing Minister, Eoghan Murphy has ordered all of Ireland’s local authorities to immediately carry out a thorough safety review of all social housing units across the State.

Minister Murphy’s move is welcome but it fails to address where the real problem exists in Ireland.

While there are certainly problems with social housing in this country, the strict building regulations that councils here must adhere to mean that social homes here tend to be much safer than their equivalents in the UK.

Where the problem lies in Ireland is with privately built apartments and houses, especially those that were thrown up, all over the country, at the height of the boom.

Readers will be well aware of the Priory Hall complex in Dublin where residents were evicted when it transpired that the building was a fire- trap that could – like Grenfell – have claimed hundreds of lives if a blaze broke out in the building. Experts warn that there are scores more buildings like Priory Hall, dotted around the country, where countless families are living in danger every day.

This is down to the woefully inadequate – and barely enforced – building controls that were in place during the boom.

In many cases fire safety certificates for complexes containing hundreds of apartments were signed off on – based only on the plans – by inspectors who never saw the buildings.

It’s not just apartments. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of houses across the State that are potential deathtraps.

In June 2015, a house in Millfield Manor Estate in Kildare caught fire. Within just 30 minutes it and five other homes had been gutted by the blaze which tore through the wooden frame terrace.

In the wake of that fire the Government commissioned an “urgent report” into fire safety in boom- era properties. Some 15 months later that report remains unpublished. Perhaps it would be a good place for Minister Murphy to start.

The Tories sat on a similar report in the UK for four years. Look how that turned out.