Grenfell United activists make presentation to Council

The horrific Grenfell Tower fire has once again been recalled by Derry City and Strabane District Councillors.

In October 2023, Karim Mussilhy and Antonio Roncolato from Grenfell United - survivors and bereaved families from the fire who came together to “demand justice and change” in memory of their families and neighbours who died - addressed Council’s Health and Community committee.

The fire, which broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats, in North Kensington, West London, on June 14, 2017, has been described as the worst UK residential fire since World War II - 72 people perished, 70 were injured and 223 escaped.

On Tuesday (March 4), Mr Mussilhy, Tess Barkan (chairperson), Natasha Elock (vice chairperson), and Edward Daffarn from Grenfell United updated members of Council’s Governance and Strategic Planning committee on their ongoing campaign.

Mr Mussilhy referenced the British Government’s recent announcement that the Tower was going to be demolished.

“Grenfell United’s reaction to this announcement was that there had been a lack of engagement and consultation with the families and the survivors on this decision,” he added.

“We know the Tower has to come down at some stage; it can’t stay the way it is indefinitely but, unfortunately, they have come to the decision that the Tower will come down to ground but the families have not been engaged in the consultation process. At the minute, we do not feel very hopeful or optimistic that that will change.

“There has been some recent news about Kingspan which is still benefiting from Government contracts and public body contracts. It has been using its insulation products on a train station just outside of Grenfell Tower.

“We are [also] now approaching the criminal process, which is probably going to take another two to three years, maybe even longer, and we don’t know even once that happens that’s going to take,” said Mr Mussilhy, who thanked councillors for listening to the presentation and supporting Grenfell United in its campaign “when it came to Kingspan and
Ulster Rugby”.

His colleague, Edward Daffarn, revealed that in the British Government’s response to the Grenfell Inquiry recommendations, it was “potentially looking to ban Kingspan from public procurement contracts”.

Mr Daffaran added: “Obviously that’s something we very much support, having read the results of the public inquiry and seen how Kingspan and the other firms behaved in putting their profit above our human lives and the devastating loss we experienced because of their greed essentially.

“Unfortunately, like everything else in the Government’s response, none of this has happened overnight but this is something that we are really keen to see happening.

“The way we look at it, the only language that Kingspan understands is it just carries on making more money and, obviously, we want to make sure that is as difficult for it as possible. We don’t believe Kingspan has shown any contrition, any real, genuine remorse for the devastating impact that its actions had on our community,” said Mr Daffaran.

Cllr Christopher Jackson (Sinn Féin) chairperson of the Governance and Strategic Planning committee commended the work of Grenfell United in “campaigning on the back of a devastating tragedy”.

Thanking the members of Grenfell United for their update, Ald Derek Hussey (UUP) sought clarification on the previous mention of “an ongoing criminal investigation in regard to the Kingspan scenario with Grenfell Tower”.

Responding, Karim Mussilhy said: “Kingspan, among the other manufacturers and companies that were involved in the refurbishment of the Tower, are all under criminal investigation by the police and have been from day one, hence why our position is very strong that these organisations should not be able to continue to profit by using Government contracts or public body contracts and targeting the UK market for selling their flammable products, which are still on the market today.

“Kingspan, like some of the other organisations, has been heavily lobbying the Government to not only continue to sell their products but to make sure their products remain available to use in this country.

“Also, it is working with the Government and advising it on building future, greener and safer homes. We are very strongly against this, especially since it is under criminal investigation by the police for Grenfell Tower,” said Mussilhy.

Expressing his solidarity with the Grenfell United representatives, Cllr Gary Donnelly (Independent) highlighted that “seven organisations are under investigation for professional misconduct” in relation to the Grenfell fire.

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“I would hope, as I am sure any decent human being would hope, that the people responsible for allowing this to happen would have a price to pay.”

Cllr Rory Farrell (SDLP) said: “Even the British Government has said [Grenfell] could have been prevented; it shouldn’t have happened.

“I would also like to touch on the Inquiry Report and the British Government’s response. It had 58 recommendations and they were all agreed in full or in principle. The British Government said it was going to take tough action and people were going to see fundamental change.

“It has been mentioned that seven of the firms involved in this disaster face possible debarment from public sector contracts,” said Cllr Farrell.

In response, Edward Daffarn said: “What happens is, you become the victim of a tragedy and then you go through a public inquiry and instead of these recommendations being enacted, you find as an individual, many years later, you are still having to monitor and police the government response to recommendations.

“[For us] change and the road to justice has been glacial and tortuous and that is why forming relationships with people such as yourselves is so important.”