Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that it was only “by luck” that there wasn’t a major incident involving a house that had been allowed to fill with natural gas in Cushlawn Park in West Tallaght last night.
“I was contacted by upset residents in Cushlawn Park this morning who informed me of a very serious incident last night involving a recently refurbished house that had been allowed to fill with natural gas after the supply was switched back on,” Deputy Crowe said.
“A cap had supposedly not been refitted to a gas pipe during the refurbishment, so when the supply had been switched back on, the whole house just started to fill up over the course of hours.
“The new tenants arrived at their home and immediately knew something was wrong; something as simple as flipping a light switch could have spelt disaster for the new residents and their neighbours on that block of houses.”
A spokesperson for Bord Gáis Energy said “a Bord Gáis engineer was on site for over 5 hours until after 1am to source the leak and ensure the house was ventilated and that no drains or shores had become saturated with gas.”
Crowe said the incident raises “very serious questions about who signed off on the works after the recent refurbishment of a social house.”
“A gas explosion can be utterly devastating in a residential area and these types of accidents should never be allowed to happen.
“Today, we could have been waking up to multiple deaths or injuries, but thankfully someone smelt gas and contacted the relevant people in An Bord Gáis.
“The local residents need answers on this near tragedy and reassurance from the local authority South Dublin County Council that these life endangering errors will never happen again in any of their properties.
“At a minimum, they need answers and an apology should be given to those who had leave their homes during this incident.”