Go raibh maith agat. Yesterday, my party colleague, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald raised with the Taoiseach the appalling prospect that up to 600 people who are living in Longboat Quay will be forced out of their homes unless they come up with €4 million by today.

This is the other side of the NAMA story.

These are the latest innocent victims of reckless and unscrupulous property developers who, in their drive for profit, have and are playing Russian roulette with the lives of families.

They have been building substandard and unsafe housing in a property frenzy, particularly during the boom years. Priory Hall, under McFeely, is the most infamous example.

One of the Deputy's.

It has nothing to do with me; I will tell the Tánaiste that much.

I was not talking about the Deputy personally.

The residents of Longboat Quay, the development with which we are dealing, must now suffer the consequences of bad planning regulations, or a lack of such regulations and enforcement. Residents of such complexes have been exploited by Fianna Fáil developers, like Bernard McNamara and others, in the past. These are the same individuals who collapsed regeneration projects right across the city. The individual in question slithered off to England to escape from bankruptcy in Ireland. He is now back building in the city. He is the rebuilder of the former Canada House in St. Stephen's Green, which he is building on behalf of Denis O'Brien. There is the golden circle. Once again, the Government is facilitating that by not introducing proper legislation. It is interesting that Canada House may be the future headquarters of Irish Water.

Why has the Government not acted on the systematic failure of government and local authorities to follow up on reports that some of the complexes in this city and elsewhere throughout the country are too dangerous to live in? Why has no legislation been produced to address the problems with those buildings and help the victims? It is not just a question of Priory Hall as there are many similar buildings throughout the country. Another of which I am aware is Riverwalk Court in Ratoath. In Newbridge, six houses burnt down. The local authority identified that 90 houses had the same flaw, yet the onus is on the residents to fix it. In Gallery Quay, some of the residents have been forced out but, a year and a half later, there is still no move to do the remediation work required.

Does the Tánaiste agree the public, property owners, tenants and residents need a proper audit of all the properties built during the boom, particularly the docklands developments, but also others throughout the country, to ensure they are given a clean bill of health?

I express my sympathy to the people living in the development at Longboat Quay. I can imagine how worrying it is for people who have bought apartments there and who took out mortgages over a long period. Dublin Fire Brigade, in seeking to ensure there are proper fire regulations in respect of those apartments and every other set of apartments, is performing a very important public service on behalf of the citizens of Dublin, and particularly on behalf of the residents living in and paying mortgages on the apartments in question.

As this development was initially within the remit of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, and as that authority is in the process of moving over to the local authority, which is Dublin City Council, there is plenty of scope to ensure the relevant work is done. I would like to see it done as quickly as possible. I know people living in the complex, as I am sure does the Deputy. Some people became residents through shared-ownership schemes while some bought on the open market. Therefore, we are talking about a huge investment by people in their own lives and the lives of their families in order to obtain good quality accommodation. I am familiar with the outside of the apartments. They are in a very nice location near the River Liffey. They appear to have serious issues concerning fire safety. There is enormous scope for Dublin City Council and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which is moving under the remit of Dublin City Council, to address the really important issue of fire safety with the fire brigade as quickly as possible.

There was a similar set of circumstances with Priory Hall, as mentioned by Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh. The developer's political movement affiliations were well known. That case was resolved through a process of mediation which was incredibly difficult for the residents and took far too long. I hope we have all learned from what happened there and that we can now have a resolution of a more attractive nature.

The fire brigade worked very closely with the Dublin City Council authorities to address what I understand must be enormous fears among families with children and individuals over the fundamentals of fire safety in the apartments in question. I have spoken to a number of residents and various politicians who represent those in the area and believe that with goodwill from Dublin City Council, which is taking over Dublin Docklands Development Authority, this issue can be resolved and the safety of the residents ensured. We can actually deal with the matter in the here and now.

I do not believe the Tánaiste has managed to persuade anybody that the matter will be resolved.

Why not?

She has just kicked it to touch until such time as Dublin City Council has full charge of Dublin Docklands Development Authority. Why does the Government not take the initiative? This case is but one in the media at present. There are several. I do not want to repeat the long drawn-out saga concerning Priory Hall or the many other developments, not all of which had fire safety problems but which were substandard in other ways. Does the Tánaiste agree that there is a need for legislation to ensure surveyors, architects, planners and, in particular, developers can be held to account over their failures? What is the role of HomeBond? Has the Tánaiste any intention of replacing it? Does she intend to underpin future builds with something similar? Can she ensure that every single build in the country, not just in this city, will comply fully with fire regulations? The Tánaiste mentioned Dublin City Council but this is not just a Dublin City Council problem. That is the council identified today by me but some of the affected units are in County Meath and in Newbridge. Will the Government commit to ensuring local authorities have the funding to employ additional planning enforcers and inspectors so they can go on-site at various stages during a build to ensure shortcuts are not taken?

Can the Tánaiste ensure money is set aside for residents, such as the woman who wrote to me who has bought an affordable home in the complex under discussion? She said she bought it in good faith in 2008 under the affordable housing schemes under the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. She claims she is caught up in a mess left by Bernard McNamara, who left the building an unsafe fire-trap. She now has to pay €10,000 for his mistakes. In fact, it may be more. According to the woman, she does not have the money and will not be paying it. She states the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government failed to deliver a correctly specified building because of the failures of its building control legislation and monitoring. The key is to ensure this does not happen in the future. There is a need to deliver immediately for the people living in the building, so they will have peace of mind if they are to be forced to continue to live in a home that is unsuitable and dangerous.

The one thing I do regret reading about Dublin City Council in recent days was that it took a sprightly but elderly woman - I think she was 90 - to court over a satellite television debt. To be perfectly honest, I think Dublin City Council might have been better rewarded by dealing with the issue, albeit a planning infringement, by concentrating its resources on some of the issues that Deputy Ó Snodaigh has highlighted. That is a personal view but perhaps that is something Dublin City Council should actually address.

As regards what is happening to the families who have entered into a whole series of different mortgage arrangements, it is a beautiful development. I do not know if the Deputy has been down there but it is right on the fringes of the River Liffey and externally it certainly looks wonderful. Those families have invested their hopes and dreams in it, but it has been found to be a fire hazard by Dublin Fire Brigade. Let me be clear that the fire brigade has a wonderful record of service to this city and the surrounding county.

What is necessary in this case is for Dublin City Council to step up to the table and work with the fire authority to address the issues which are really serious. The docklands authority was the original developer and, by the way, has had many fine developments in that area. It revived and recreated a whole area of Dublin with many offices, a lot of housing and much employment for Dubliners and others who have come to live and work in the capital. That is now in the process of transferral to Dublin City Council. These are the organisations that have the competency to deal with this matter.

If Deputy Ó Snodaigh would like to see further legislation, as he has suggested, the Government will examine any recommendations he may bring forward. However, the immediate issue is to take the fear away from the families living there with their small children. If there are serious fire risks, it is a matter for Dublin Fire Brigade which for many decades has been protecting all of those living in Dublin. I trust implicitly what the fire officers are saying and I think the solution is there, rather than long-fingering through Dáil legislation. We have to bring together the city council and the docklands authority, which is moving into the city council. This is in the hands of the city council, which should take action as a responsible city authority working with the fire brigade to solve this problem. Everybody living in Dublin admires the fire service so much. I have no objection to more legislation but I do not believe it is needed to address the problems that those families have now.

What about future problems?

The council can do it.

Order please. I call on Deputy Fitzmaurice for the Technical Group.