Monthly Archives: February 2012

Graham writes:

I’m one of the owners in Priory Hall. Like all apartment owners I only got to inspect my apartment after the construction was complete. While most of us did get surveys done engineers carry out what are called “visual inspections”. Any cosmetic issues were spotted and rectified however they do not knock in walls etc.

However many of the problems that have come to light since then were under the surface such as fire safety problems, wrong materials used on the roof, brickwork not properly attached to outer walls, structural problems in the underground car park, faulty electric & gas installation (the list goes on for 15 pages). Most of these problems are in the common areas which individual owners do not actually own. It took the council 2 years and cost them 40k to carry out the investigation that uncovered the defects.

My understanding is that the majority of developed nations have building controls where inspections are carried out during construction as obviously this is the best time to uncover any defects. Ireland does not. While I’m all for personal responsibility, I can’t see how any private owner could be expected to carry out a detailed inspection of an entire apartment complex after it was built. As with most European countries it really should be the role of Governmment. Our government & local councils abdicated that responsibility and Priory Hall and the apartment complexes that will come after it are the consequences of that.

 

Previously: STILL Out In The Cold

An apology for the above subhead featured in Wednesday’s Suffolk Journal:

In today’s issue of The Journal, we published an inappropriate sub-headline in the article “SLI Involvement Fair a success.” We want to apologize profusely for the mistake and make it clear that we in no way harbor ill feelings towards the Student Leadership and Involvement Office, nor any of the students and staff that work there.

The sub-head was put in as a joke, by editors, that unfortunately slipped through our editing process later in the night. We want to make it clear that the reporter who wrote the article had no idea or anything to do with the subhead.

 

via
(Hat tip: Mia Daly)

THE INCREASED use by older men of drugs to reverse erectile dysfunction may be producing an unexpected side effect. The incidence of sexually transmitted diseases for men and women in the 50-90 age group has doubled over the past decade.

Cases of syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea rose sharply during the 2000s, according to a study published this morning in the British Medical Journal . While doctors have their suspicions, there is little concrete data to explain why this mini-epidemic is taking place.

More surprisingly, the study shows that there has also been a sharp rise in cases of HIV infection in older men.
Males over 50 now account for 20 per cent of adults accessing HIV care, an 82 per cent increase on figures from 2001, said the report’s authors, Rachel von Simson from King’s College London and Dr Ranjababu Kulasegaram from St Thomas’s Hospital in London.

Blighty, hah? You’d never catch our oldsters disporting themselves like that.

Nice cup of tea and a bun. Bit of light spanking. Mogadon. Bed.

Sexual Diseases Rise Among Elderly (Irish Times)

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