Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This year, I and other County Donegal Deputies have raised issues around the defective blocks scheme 44 times in various debates in this Chamber. More than 240 parliamentary questions have been put down by Members across the House. Yet, each time I have raised this matter with the Tánaiste or Taoiseach in whichever of the rotating roles they happen to be occupying at the time, the concerns and questions I have raised on behalf of my constituents in Donegal have been treated dismissively, with trumpeting talk of a €3.5 billion scheme, which is the biggest in the history of the State etc. Tuesday’s budget commits only €70 million next year to this flawed scheme, which includes the pyrite remediation scheme. It is less than what the Government is doling out to the horse and greyhound industry.

There is often a Pontius Pilate-like attitude to the Government's engagements on the issue. Today, I need more of a Pauline attitude if possible, since we are on the New Testament, as the Tánaiste said. I need the Tánaiste to listen and answer the question asked concisely without superfluous waffle. Due to the ineffectual leadership of the Government on this issue, affected homeowners in Donegal have taken the initiative in meeting with the banking industry, the insurance industry and various Ministers to articulate their concerns, and they have had good success where the Government has failed. One recent example is where they have secured with the banks, in principle, access to 0% finance to bridge the enormous gap in funding between what the Government's flawed scheme offers and the reality of what is needed.

Questions remain, however, on the lack of urgency regarding engagement from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, along with conflicting responses coming from the Government and the banking industry. Just this week, the banking and insurance focus group was informed by banks that there has been no dialogue on the damage clause-return to mortgageable condition under each of the remediation options between them and the Department. Homeowners need to know that when they engage with the scheme, their property will be returned to what the bank terms a mortgageable condition. The Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland, BPFI, has told the focus group that the Department is going establish a working group to look at the various financial issues raised, yet in a parliamentary question response to me on Tuesday there was no such commitment from the Minister.

My question is this. Will the Government commit to establishing a working group to look at the specific issues that the redress focus group on banking and insurance has identified and raised with the Ministers for Finance and Housing, Local Government and Heritage? Will the Government commit to including representation from the redress focus group on banking and insurance on that working group, alongside other relevant stakeholders?

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