Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he was convinced other buildings throughout the country were in a similar condition to the Dublin apartment complex found to be a fire hazard.

He said the Longboat Quay development was an example of the worst kind of situation, where people who legitimately got money to buy their apartments or houses found, for reasons beyond their control, that they 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,’’ he added. “The situation is that responsibility is vested, and was vested, in the regulations, and the conditions were granted when planning permission was granted in the first place.’’

The Taoiseach was replying to Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams who said 900 residents of Longboat Quay had been instructed to cough up millions of euro for repairs to their homes because they were built without adequate fire-safety measures.

He said health-and-safety issues had been raised relating to 62 apartments in Prospect Hill, on Dublin's Finglas Road, and the Riverwalk Court complex in Ratoath, Co Meath.

“Clearly, these are no isolated cases,’’ he added. “Properties bought at considerable expense have been verified in report after report as being substandard and dangerous.’’

Reassurance

Mr Adams

asked how the Taoiseach intended to reassure residents that unscrupulous property developers and not unfortunate residents would be held responsible for unsafe building work, given that Nama, local councils and the Government had been aware for years of those health and safety issues.

Mr Kenny said what had happened had brought absolute wreckage to the careers and the ambitions and lives of many people. “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,’’ he added.

He said he would ask the Department of the Environment to investigate the buildings referred to by Mr Adams.

The Sinn Féin leader said it was not enough for the Taoiseach to engage only in the blame game.

Mr Kenny said there had been quite a number of changes to the regulations and legislation would be introduced to deal with the regulatory situation.