Leo may benefit ‘indirectly’ from defect redress
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has confirmed that an apartment he owns is among thousands of defective buildings subject to a multibillion-euro Government redress scheme.
The Fine Gael leader yesterday told the Dáil that he would not make a claim under the scheme, but said that he could end up ‘an indirect beneficiary’ of it.
The Cabinet yesterday agreed to draft legislation covering the costs of remediating Celtic Tiger-era apartments and duplexes with fire safety, water ingress and structural safety defects.
Between 62,500 and 100,000 apartments and duplexes built between 1991 and 2013 are thought to be defective, with fire safety being the most common problem.
The scheme is estimated to cost between €1.5billion and €2.5 billion, depending on how many defective structures there are, with an estimated cost of €25,000 per apartment.
Addressing the Dáil yesterday, Mr Varadkar said: ‘There’s a matter to declare a potential interest. I own an apartment in Castleknock. It’s the only property I own. But it is in a building with defects. While I won’t be claiming from the scheme personally, the owners’ management company might and I could be an indirect beneficiary in that regard.’ The scheme was approved yesterday by the Government, which promised that a ‘whole building’ approach will be taken, ensuring that common areas and shared spaces are also remediated where required. Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said the scheme would be fully funded and that the Government was ‘grasping the nettle’. He said: ‘I’m pleased to tell homeowners – many of whom have been living with this issue and the stress of this issue for a number of years, some for ten to 15 years, that Government today agreed to establish a legacy defect scheme, a fully funded scheme that will help homeowners to remediate their dwellings and to bring them back to safe places for them to live.
‘This is the State stepping in, and this is this Government actually grasping that nettle in dealing with this issue and, of course, lessons have been learned.
‘There will be no one excluded from it, and there will be limitations within it but, obviously, if we’re to remediate an apartment block, the full cost of that needs to be covered,’ he said.
He said the Government has approved ‘in principle’ to include works carried out in the past under the scheme, and said he would bring forward legislation.