Construction

Analysis: Celtic Tiger defects scheme will cover homeowners who already paid for repairs

The government felt it could not compensate one group of apartment owners, while leaving another group with nothing

The Priory Hall apartment complex in north Dublin was one of the first Celtic Tiger developments to show major fire safety defects. Picture: Rollingnews.ie

The big surprise in the €2.5 billion apartment defects scheme is that it covers repair work that has already been paid for by homeowners.

A recent government working group found that there could be between 62,000 and 100,000 homes built between 1991 and 2013 that had building defects that need to be repaired.

Many homeowners have already had to pay out of their own pocket to repair fire safety defects because the work naturally cannot ...