Nine hundred residents of Dublin's Longboat Quay have been instructed to cough up millions of euro for repairs to their homes because they were built without adequate fire safety measures. They have been told that, unless they do so by 1 November, they face eviction. Is the Taoiseach also aware that families that were allocated a block of 62 apartments in Prospect Hill on Dublin's Finglas Road have been told by Dublin City Council that there are health and safety issues with those apartments? The block is one of several on a larger site of more than 500 occupied apartments that may have the same problem. Is the Taoiseach aware of the Riverwalk Court complex in Ratoath, County Meath's version of Longboat Quay? Clearly, these are not isolated cases. Properties bought at considerable expense have been verified in report after report as being substandard and dangerous. How does the Taoiseach intend to reassure residents that unscrupulous property developers and not unfortunate residents will be held responsible for unsafe building work, given the fact that NAMA, local councils and the Government have been aware for years of these health and safety issues? Will the Taoiseach spell out the steps he has taken to deal with this scandalous situation? As to my primary question, will the Taoiseach indicate how many residential developments have been built without adequate safety measures?

No, I cannot give the Deputy that answer, but what I am convinced of is that there are other Longboat Quay situations out there and other Priory Hall situations out there. And all of that has brought absolute wreckage to the careers and the ambitions and the lives of so many people in our country. And it all happened because of a rush to greed, a rush to build indiscriminately without following the conditions and the regulations that were laid down as to proper building standards. I do not know, Deputy Adams, how many other cases around the country were built to an inferior standard. I do not know if there are other apartment blocks out there where traps exist or where fire hazards exist.

Is the Taoiseach going to do something to find out?

Unfortunately, they are not coming to light long until after those who provided them have absconded or are not in the business. The Deputy's deputy leader wanted to make a telephone call to a developer yesterday as if this could sort it all out.

Did the Taoiseach ring him?

I made the point to Deputy McDonald that the Longboat Quay apartments were a combination of a number of entities, and the Minister, Deputy Kelly, met with personnel about this yesterday.

This is an example of the worst kind of situation in our country, where people who went off legitimately and got their money to buy their homes or apartments or houses found afterwards that, for reasons beyond their control, these were not what they thought they were. At the end of the day, somebody probably expects the taxpayer to fork out for all of these things. The situation is that responsibility is vested, and was vested, in the regulations and the conditions that were granted when planning permission was granted in the first place.

I do not know the answer to Deputy Adams's question, but I will take the places that he has mentioned and ask the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and the authorities to carry out investigations on those places, but I am convinced that there are probably others in other locations around the country where, unfortunately, the same situation actually applies.

The Taoiseach could give him a ring to save himself a lot of hassle.

That is how it was done in the old days.

I am concerned by the Taoiseach's answer. He stated that he was aware that there were many other Longboat Quay, Prospect Hill and Riverwalk Court developments, but that he could not tell how many. How long has he been aware of this? How long has he known that citizens are living in unsafe accommodation?

As the Taoiseach has stated, this clearly is the unacceptable face of the Celtic tiger and of Fianna Fáil light-touch regulation. However, it is not enough for a Taoiseach to engage only in the blame game. Neither Members nor the people who live in these developments need to be told what is the problem. The Taoiseach must tell Members the solution. The Taoiseach may recall that the Mahon report had a key recommendation on the appointment of an independent planning regulator but the Government has not acted on this. Will the Taoiseach support the Sinn Féin Bill published today by an Teachta Brian Stanley to establish an independent planning regulator? In addition, will the Taoiseach tell Members why the Government has not introduced legislation to ensure that surveyors, architects, builders and planners are accountable? On what basis, moral or otherwise, does the Taoiseach expect residents to pick up the tab for what he has described as the unscrupulous behaviour of those developers and others who built these unsafe developments? Does the Taoiseach agree with the Minister, Deputy Kelly, that property tax proceeds should be used? Finally, can he confirm whether there are criminal investigations under way into these matters?

Thank you.

Moreover, will the Government introduce the necessary legislation before it goes to ensure developers and not residents are left to foot the Bill?

As the late Dr. Paisley used to say, "Don't you put words in my mouth".

Exactly.

I did not state I was aware of the number of locations around the country where inferior building took place. I said I was convinced there are others out there.

On what basis?

The Taoiseach has gone from McEnroe to Paisley.

Deputy Adams has made available here some information about places he has been informed are of an inferior nature.

It is the Taoiseach's lack of awareness that is of concern.

I will pass them on to the Minister and the authorities to ensure they are investigated and rightly so. I am convinced, Deputy Adams, that in the so-called Celtic tiger years that applied under the party opposite-----

Solutions Taoiseach.

Yes. Start again next week.

Yes, that the position was that many buildings and apartment blocks were built very quickly. God knows how many others are out there that are not up to standard.

As the Taoiseach, you should know.

There is much Deputy Adams should know about himself.

There is a lot you know you do not let on, I can tell you.

The Taoiseach to reply please. Thank you. This is Leaders' Questions.

Of course, I did see the "Spotlight" programme about buildings in Northern Ireland but the Deputy knows nothing about that either.

Is that going to be the Taoiseach's answer for everything?

No Deputy Tóibín, that is not my answer.

Is that the Taoiseach's default for every problem? Will that be his default answer to everything?

The spotlight is on the Taoiseach. No answers.

Sorry, would Members please-----

As the Deputy is aware, the planning and development (No. 2) Bill will deal with elements of the regulatory authority that is to be set up. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, has made some serious changes in the regulations in so far as the building standards are concerned.

Will the Government support Sinn Féin's Bill?

The Deputy knows as well as I do that while meetings were supposed to be held on site on a regular basis on all of these developments, in many cases they never happened and one was left in a situation of considerable chance as to whether shortcuts were taken. The result is that in the city centre, for the Longboat Quay apartments, there is substandard and inferior quality-----

It never happened, but they sent them out to a 90 year woman about a satellite dish.

Please, we are over time.

-----and confusion about all of that. In addition, people had been living in these apartments in cases where they obviously were not safe from the perspective of fire safety certification and all the rest. The Minister has made quite a number of changes to the regulations that apply here and the planning and development (No. 2) Bill, which the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, and the Minister, Deputy Kelly, will bring through the Dáil will deal with the regulatory situation here.

Thank you.

However, to be honest with Deputy Adams, I believe it will be necessary to wait for some time until other cases are sold or transferred and inspections are carried out which find they are not what they are supposed to be, are of inferior quality, are substandard and are not that which was planned and for which permission was given. The Minister will move to ensure these kinds of situations do not apply in the future. However, one cannot do this unless one has supervision and a mandatory requirement to comply with conditions of planning that are set out in the first place, adhering to the regulations that are in the planning and development (No. 2) Bill and so on.