Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to the men and women in the Construction Defects Alliance, the mica campaigners, the pyrite campaigners, and all the people who have had the courage to come forward and speak out. It is really tough for them. There are 100,000 homes impacted by this, including a number of estates in my area. I am not going to name them, not because their names are not in the public domain - they kind of already are - but because there are people there trying to sell their homes. I spoke to a young couple recently. They bought a starter home at the height of the Celtic tiger, just before we were about to feel the full lash of what Fianna Fáil had done to this State. They bought a small apartment. It is now not big enough for them and their family and they cannot sell it. They are stuck there, in overcrowded accommodation that is also unsafe. Not alone is it not a good place to live because of the size of it, it is not a good place to live because of the defects.

The report of the working group examining the defects on housing made tough reading for anyone but if you were sitting in one of those apartments, I can only imagine how angry and frustrated you would be. These people are paying their mortgages every month, knowing their apartments are defective through no fault of their own, having done the thing we are led to believe we should do, which is to grow up, get a job, get a mortgage and get somewhere to live. They did that. They followed, as they would say, all the rules. I would agree with Deputy Paul Murphy on this. The response from the Government seems to be saying that it will give them a hand with that or will help them out. It is a language thing and maybe it is unintentional - I hope it is - but it implies that somehow it is their fault and it is not. They bought homes in good faith.

A couple of weeks ago we brought forward a motion for 100% redress. We should not have to say that 100% redress should mean 100% because it should not mean any less than 100%. The families in Donegal, Mayo and everywhere else impacted by mica and pyrite know that when the Government says 100% it has a different figure in its mind. It says 100% but in truth they know it is not going to mean 100% to them. Fair play to the people who stand outside the Dáil because they were brave enough to come and do that. When they say they want 100%, they need the Government to understand that that is actually 100%. They should not be punished for the light-touch regulation that was a big feature of previous Fianna Fáil Governments but was also, let us be honest, enthusiastically supported by its best friends in Fine Gael.

Today we are discussing the report of the working group examining defects in houses. In 2018 we had the Safe as Houses report. What happened to that report? It is a bit of a Father Ted moment - "Is there anything to be said for another report?" We are going to arrive, and I believe we have already, at a stage where we can say this issue has been reported on ad nauseam.What is actually needed is action. The recommendations from the Safe as Houses report have not been implemented as yet. Where are the measures to reform the building control system to give homeowners and tenants greater protections and ensure we do not have a repeat of the Celtic tiger era building defects scandal? For years we in Sinn Féin have been campaigning for a redress scheme for homeowners and tenants impacted by Celtic tiger era defects. Our party spokesperson Deputy Ó Broin has a long track record on this issue. We need serious action for these people very early in the new year. I remind the Minister of State that 100% has to mean 100% because these people were 100% let down. They now need to be 100% compensated through that redress.

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