A number of fire officers from local authorities were in attendance to highlight the role of councils in preventing and tackling fire. Children from two schools were on hand to emphasise that those of even tender years must be vigilant about the dangers of fire.

All very responsible stuff. Except beyond the sound of bells and whistles, major questions remain about how seriously this Government takes fire safety. In particular, there is a body of evidence that suggests the administration doesn’t want to know whether homes built during the 2000s are safe from the threat of fire.

Over the last few years, fire safety problems have been highlighted in up to 30 different housing or apartment schemes built during the years of the so-called Celtic Tiger.

The high-profile ones have included Priory Hall in north Dublin in 2011, and Longboat Quay in the city’s docklands in 2015, first reported in this newspaper. The exclusive Beacon South development in south Dublin was another example. In the most serious case, tragedy was averted in March 2015 when a terrace of six houses was burned to the ground in half an hour at Millfield Manor in Newbridge.

There have been cases highlighted around the country, including in Clare, Waterford, Meath, and Louth. All of these have in common the discovery of major fire safety defects that require serious remedial work in order to make homes safe.

Last week, at a meeting in Dublin for apartment owners, the issue of fire safety arose. The contributor, who didn’t want to be identified publicly, is a homeowner in a complex where some serious fire defects have been uncovered.

“They’re running for the hills,” she said of her efforts to contact various public and political bodies. “They don’t want to know.”

Deirdre Ní Fhloinn, a barrister who specialises in construction law, told the meeting that investigations into fire safety defects in recent years have been very limited.

“They didn’t deal with fire stopping in the task force report,” she said, referencing the report ordered in this State following the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017.

There are a substantial number of properties where fire stopping is a problem.

Two reports commissioned by the Department of Housing (formerly Environment) in recent years have highlighted a lack of interest in accessing the real picture.

In September 2015, then environment minister Alan Kelly ordered a report into the issues that arose from the Millfield Manor fire. In particular, the report was to deal with timber-frame construction around which questions had arisen in terms of both design and construction in relation to fire safety.

The report was supposed to be completed in February 2016, but was eventually published in August 2017. It did not address any of the serious issues. Instead, it restated legislation and emphasised the importance of vigilance.

At the time of publication, Kelly said that was not the report he’d ordered.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, a taskforce was appointed by minister Eoghan Murphy to examine whether any issues arose here that could give rise to concerns of a similar outbreak.

The result was a report that stated a few things needed to be strengthened, but largely there was nothing major to worry about. The survey in the report was confined to buildings over 18m tall and it is unclear the extent to which issues around fire stopping and construction defects were examined.

What has not been commissioned is an extensive audit of all apartment buildings constructed during the boom years. The desirability for such a survey was referenced in 2014 by then taoiseach Enda Kenny. “We have to stand up and confront the major deficiencies in the sector that tolerated poor standards through a weak regulatory and enforcement regime,” he said.

The following year, when Longboat Quay emerged, then minister Brendan Howlin was more specific. “I think that every local authority should set about ensuring that there’s a full audit of any apartments or buildings built during that period to assure the residents and all of us that things are safe and as they should be,” he said.

At local authority level, there has been an ad hoc approach to the matter. Three councils have publicly declared that they conducted an audit. The vast majority, it would appear, are taking a similar head-in-the-sand approach to the Government.

That approach is informed by the chilling prospect that the problem is far more widespread than has already been uncovered. The complete absence of regulation in construction during the boom infers that there is a lot more bad stuff out there hidden behind walls.

If the full picture were accessed, and the extent of remedial work fully costed, it could well become a hot political topic. The State scheme to recompense homeowners affected by pyrite has already cost in excess of €70m. It is entirely conceivable that any scheme that would have to be set up for homeowners with fire safety defects could easily exceed that figure.

Any move in that direction would then open the way for recompense for all kinds of defects as a result of the complete lack of regulation during the time period in question. On the basis of the cost of Priory Hall for Dublin Clty Council — estimated at €27m — the cost to the exchequer could be enormous.

Better to keep the head in the sand and hope nobody is going to end up dead as a result.

At yesterday’s launch, Minister John Paul Phelan emphasised the importance of fire alarms in maintaining safety. Of course he is correct. But the elephant in the room is still hanging around, still asking the same question.

When will the Government attempt to find out how safe or unsafe the apartments are that were built during a time when regulation was a joke and standards a moveable feast?