Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

I was going to say there have been significant concerns regarding the reduction of the number of exits and the size of units. The Minister will be aware that academics have pointed to the changes, not in the fire safety rules, but in apartment design and standards leading to fire safety issues and jeopardy.
We have had a narrative about gold-plating which has been accompanied by a quite systematic set of lowering of standards, even at EU level through omnibus measures. It is important to signal these issues and concerns because there are consequences of that. Significant concerns were raised about more units being placed with smaller sizes and less shared access to exits in relation to apartment standards. A fire safety consequence or risk was identified in relation to that, not a specific dilution - it may be in the fire safety standards - but an associated risk.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19