Varadkar: Fixing Celtic Tiger-era apartments will not fall entirely on taxpayer
Picture: Going Taxpayer Possible To Expect ' For This Chaney/collins 'it's To Entire Photos Gareth General Be Not Varadkar: Leo Tánaiste The Foot The To Bill
The taxpayer will not pick up all of the cost of fixing Celtic Tiger-era homes, the Tánaiste has said.
Speaking in Galway on Friday, Leo Varadkar said that the potential €2.8bn needed to fix fire safety, water, and structural defects in up to 110,000 apartments built between 1991 and 2013 could be made up of exchequer funding and a levy on the construction industry.
A working group on the issue established by Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien is due to report back next week and it is understood that its report has found that fire safety, water ingress, and structural issues are present in 80% of apartments built between 1991 and 2013. That equates to between 62,500 and 110,000 units.
Mr Varadkar accepted in the Dáil on Thursday that the Government would have to assist homeowners, but on Friday said that he would not favour the taxpayer covering the entire cost.
"It's something I'm very, very aware of in my own constituency," said Mr Varadkar.
"I represent West Dublin and during the Celtic Tiger, there was a building boom in Ireland and a lot of it happened in West Dublin. There are a large number of apartments in my constituency, where there are defects, whether it's to do with fire or water ingress.
"And we need to help people to solve that because we don't want people living in dangerous apartments and we don't want people stuck in a situation whereby they can never sell on their apartment because of the building defects.
"We just haven't yet worked out the details of how we're going to do that yet. We just don't know what it's actually going to cost.
"One thing I would say is it's not going to be possible to expect the general taxpayer to foot the entire bill for this. So the issue of some form of levy on the construction industry does come into play, that was done in Britain. We will have to do something similar here.
"It wouldn't be reasonable to expect the hardworking taxpayer to pick up the entire bill."
Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said on Friday that the issue must be accounted for in September's budget.
"The scheme should be available to private homeowners and social housing landlords, particularly in mixed tenure schemes. It should also cover apartments, duplexes, and houses in affected developments," he said.