Ghost estates in city refused cash for vital safety works -Belmayne, Priory Hall and Marsfield

[C. Flower]

Prime Time is (at last) questioning the role of the architect. I don't understand why the architects have not been sued. They are obliged to be insured.

[Andrew49]

Prime Time is (at last) questioning the role of the architect. I don't understand why the architects have not been sued. They are obliged to be insured.

The State introduced a system of "self-certification" for builders by which they merely had to say their completed buildings contained the fire-protection measures. But the architects, Oppermann Associates, carried out a visual inspection of Priory Hall in 2008 and signed off on the complex. Mr Oppermann subsequently said he was shocked when he learned of the fire threat caused by an almost complete lack of fire or smoke stopping between apartments and on the outer walls of the building. The top two floors of the building are of timber frame construction and highly flammable.

Fire protection professionals say the problems in Priory Hall are repeated throughout the country and affect thousands of buildings. One major complex -- five times bigger than Priory Hall -- is said to be of major concern with extensive voids and cavities which would allow fire to spread rapidly.

In 2006 I was driving with a friend, a fire protection professional, and took a new shortcut through a new - smallish - estate. He was shocked! He was responsible for the safety of over 50,000 people and he had no clue that this estate was in his bailiwick! If any of the residents had 'phoned 999 his vehicles wouldn't have been able to find the place!

[Baron von Biffo]

I assume the developer was also the contractor in this case. I would like to know if he directed the architect and contractor to build in a substandard way. I find it hard to see why all the focus is on him.

We urgently need a proper system of public inspection, as takes place in other countries.

Are we willing to pay for it?

[fluffybiscuits]

I assume the developer was also the contractor in this case. I would like to know if he directed the architect and contractor to build in a substandard way. I find it hard to see why all the focus is on him.

We urgently need a proper system of public inspection, as takes place in other countries.

That role should have been played by the county counil but they fell flat on their faces . We need an independent body to assess the buildings.

[C. Flower]

Elaine Byrne comments on the broken glass and the journalist.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/an...s-3189911.html

[Baron von Biffo]

Elaine Byrne comments on the broken glass and the journalist.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/an...s-3189911.html

Disgusting, vomit inducing sh!te. I wonder how a rape victim would feel about being used to whip up indignation on behalf of some hack getting in over her head?

[C. Flower]

Disgusting, vomit inducing sh!te. I wonder how a rape victim would feel about being used to whip up indignation on behalf of some hack getting in over her head?

It was stretching things a bit. I find it odd though if anyone thought that threatening someone with a broken glass, as alleged, was O.K.

[Slim Buddha]

Are we willing to pay for it?

We already do, but the councils failed totally to do their job. Whether they were politically induced to fail totally by the political party which was, and may still be, the construction industry's bought and paid for trollope, is a different question.

[PaddyJoe]

Disgusting, vomit inducing sh!te. I wonder how a rape victim would feel about being used to whip up indignation on behalf of some hack getting in over her head?

I don't quite understand how she jumped in the last paragraph to the Niamh Horan case. It doesn't really bear any relationship to the rest of the piece. Flakey late night editing?

[Kev Bar]

I don't quite understand how she jumped in the last paragraph to the Niamh Horan case. It doesn't really bear any relationship to the rest of the piece. Flakey late night editing?

I believe a primarily male chorus of the ***** was asking for it by her behaviour is the link.



Logical if not entirely appropriate.


The quote from Frank Fitz of the ST seems a bit dodgy and nasty - from my looking at the pic it was certainly not a case of "sticking a camera in the someone's mug."

The shot looks like it was taken at a distance.

It does seem somewhat odd for a editor to be downplaying a threat to someone carrying out pretty standard behaviour.

Personally I think the girl should be thanked for upsetting the night of a low-life slime-bag frolicing in the sun on money he filched from selling fatally flawed apts to normal people at huge profit and then playing the poor mouth with the state.

Not to mention all his crap about people being out to get him cos he was a Republican.

However having looked into this story, it seems the reaction was she deserved it and a lot more, not because she was a woman, but because she is who she is.

And one of Niamh Horan's legions of critics rightly spotted the coming of the above article:

PS - queue a reactionary piece in next weekend's Sindo about "society's casual acceptance of violence against women" in response to the reactions to Niamh Horan's "article".

Note to Niamh Horan: men who assault women aren't the only abusers; self-defined victims are too.

[Baron von Biffo]

It was stretching things a bit.

A bit?

To equate rape with some bit of a scuffle in a pub is grotesque.

I find it odd though if anyone thought that threatening someone with a broken glass, as alleged, was O.K.

It's very important to stress that it's only an allegation and an allegation by one participant in the events at that.

Just because the individual against whom the allegation has been made is not high in the public's esteem doesn't mean it's prudent to accept the allegation at face value.

It's not being suggested that it's ok to threaten someone with a broken glass but it's important to avoid jumping to a black-and-white view of the case.

If you provoke some people you may find yourself facing a violent reaction. A successful defence of provocation could result in conviction for a lesser offence than if there was no provocation or even to acquittal depending on all the circumstances.

[Baron von Biffo]

I don't quite understand how she jumped in the last paragraph to the Niamh Horan case. It doesn't really bear any relationship to the rest of the piece. Flakey late night editing?

The whole article was poor.

Byrne is an academic so we should expect more from her than the sort of wildly emotive hype about how the courts deal with rape cases. Tacking on the Horan business to the end made a poor article, ugly.

[C. Flower]

The whole article was poor.

Byrne is an academic so we should expect more from her than the sort of wildly emotive hype about how the courts deal with rape cases. Tacking on the Horan business to the end made a poor article, ugly.

I haven't read the original Horan article so really it's hard to know what they all got so excited about.

[Baron von Biffo]

I haven't read the original Horan article so really it's hard to know what they all got so excited about.

Me neither. My comments relate to the Byrne article.

[Kev Bar]

I haven't read the original Horan article so really it's hard to know what they all got so excited about.

I pieced it pretty much together from a horde of online quote as it has been removed from the Indo site.

It would not have taken a genius to spot that it was going to be met with an onslaught of derision.

It says a lot about where you are when Barry Egan has to publicly defend you.

Byrne, however, had a valid point about the use of the word "respectable" to describe a vicious rapist just cos he carries plenty of wedge in his wallet.