Meath County Council was scheduled to hold a meeting yesterday with the apartment owners and the management company at a housing estate to try and progress concerns held by residents over fire safety.

The estate in question is Riverwalk Court in Ratoath.

Firstly, remedial work is being carried out after structural problems with the timber frame design were uncovered. When they were carrying out that work, residents say they found serious fire safety issues in the apartment block.

Jonathan Healy went to Ratoath with Lunchtime regular, and Irish Examiner columnist Mick Clifford.

The pair spoke to people who live in the estate and discussed some of the issues surrounding fire safety in the estate. Mick Clifford began by explaining how residents had gotten to this point:

 

The developer issued a statement in response to the report from Newstalk:

"There is a limit to how far we can go into these issues because they are the subject of high court case. A breach in the water proofing of the structure at Rivercourt was discovered in 2007 and the matter was reported to the insurer at that time. The repairs should have been carried out in 2007, but due to hindrance from parties other than the developer, this was delayed.

The fire safety allegations seem to be based on the contents of an engineer’s report which we have not seen, despite repeated requests. We have received no information about what has been

found during structural repairs and no engineer’s report in relation to same. We are unable to comment upon a report which we have not seen.

We would also like to add that we were the developer, but not the builder of River Court Walk."

Lunchtime also contacted Meath County Council. They said they are in ongoing contact with all parties through the offices of its Fire Service and  has been closely monitoring the situation regarding Riverwalk Court for some time.

The current position is that contractors are on site addressing structural defects, which are covered by the insurances on the property.

The Council believes that the solution to the issues identified requires constructive engagement and close co-operation between the parties. Regrettably, this had not been happening heretofore.

However, Meath County Council will continue  to facilitate discussions.