Two phases of work within the estate have seen a large number of houses refurbished and the serious fire safety issues will now be addressed.
€5.3 million in funding has been secured for Phase 3 of the essential fire safety work .
Sinn Féin TD Teachta Brady, who has lead the campaign for the fire safety works in the estate to be carried out, said the work needs to be extended to cover all houses in the estate.
He said: "The Oldcourt estate was built in the 1970's as a temporary solution to the housing crisis at the time. However the serious problems in the houses started after a botched refurbishment scheme in the estate in the late 1980's. The old flat roof structure was simply built around and the original flat roof was left in the attic space of the refurbished houses. Since the refurbishment there have been 15 serious house fires in the estate which have resulted in the loss of seven lives. An independent fire safety audit was carried out in 2005. The findings were published in 2007 and this report outlined a substantial number of things that needed to be done in the houses to make them safer.
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"The work to date in the houses has addressed all of the identified fire safety problems; it also has the added benefit of improving the energy efficiency of the homes. Both the Government and the Council are acutely aware of the damming Fire Safety Report relating to Oldcourt, and they have a duty to the people living in all the houses in the estate that all the houses are brought up to fire safety standard without delay."
(CD/LM)
