Residents at a Dublin apartment complex have begun moving to alternative accomodation due to fire safety concerns.

Around 100 residents of the Priory Hall apartment complex in Dublin have spent the night at a hotel.
The move is part of Dublin City Council’s plan to provide them with alternative accommodation.
The High Court has ruled they have until Thursday to leave their properties due to concerns over fire safety.
The property developers behind the complex, Thomas McFeely and Larry O’Mahony, have also been ordered to surrender their passports.
There are some 250 residents at the complex in Donaghmede and many are owner-occupiers with mortgages.
As well as those staying at the hotel, many residents have moved to the homes of friends and family.
A residents’ meeting was held at the hotel, where the householders were briefed on the latest developments in relation to their homes at the courts.
They were also addressed by David Hall of the New Beginning legal group, who has now been asked by the residents to advise them on all aspects of what is happening to their apartment complex.

We at Bourke Property frequently have to deal with fire alarms and, from working with the Sligo fire service, fully understand the importance of a fully working and operating fire alarm system in apartment buildings. The system must be maintained regularly and can go off frequently so it is vital for the management company to be on top off all aspects to do with fire safety. If the local fire service is not secure in the knowledge that the fire alarm systems condition is 100% they will have no problem evacuating the complex, just as they are enforcing at Priory Hall. This is in the best interests of tenants and owner occupiers even though it is a massive inconvenience.
If the Block insurance was paid in full this covers the cost of evacuation and re-accommodation while building corrections are been made.
All owner occupiers are members of the Management Company when they bought into Priory Hall and they should have been actively involved in the management of their complex since the beginning. If active discussion was in place the situation would not have deteriorated to this degree.It would also appear that the developers were absent from the country and took no active part in the resolution of this major issue for their tenants and shareholders.

It is also important that the developers fulfill their obligations to ensure the complex is up to fire safety standards, and continue to work with the management company and fire service if this still needs finalizing. In the case of Priory Hall in seems that the developers didn’t complete the development to the fire services satisfaction and they are paying the price for the short cuts that they took.

From RTE.ie