Ben Lowry: I wanted to buy one of the flawed Belfast apartments, and wince at what has happened to those who did

(Click here to read Ben Lowry’s main column: ‘New statue in Belfast is a sneaky attempt to get memorials to terrorists’)

It was sobering to read the pensioner Patrick McKeague, who bought one of the flats for £225,000 more than a decade ago, tell our reporter Philip Bradfield that he now faced losing his life investment (‘Pensioner may lose everything as Belfast residents lose out on compensation claims after evacuation,’ March 13).

It resonated with me because I wondered about buying one of the apartments when I was looking for home at the time that they were released. I never in fact viewed any of the flats, because they seemed expensive, but I was impressed by their location, their aspect and indeed their symbolism. The development reflected a revitalised Belfast city centre, near to where the News Letter had a large modern office that was opened by the then prime minister Tony Blair and the NI first minister Rev Ian Paisley.

Thus I wince at the thought of having paid so much for one of those seemingly well-constructed flats and potentially finding it worthless. For most homeowners, their property is by far their biggest asset. Lose that, and they lose their life savings.

I do not know what happened in this case, but taxpayers should not have to resolve it, adding even more to public debt. It should be the wholly the financial responsibility of whoever is to blame for the flawed construction.

Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter editor