Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last year, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, announced a postponement of development fees and water connection charges in an effort to encourage people to build amid spiralling construction costs. Huge delays are being experienced by individual self-builders and, indeed, bigger builder waiting for connection from Uisce Éireann. There is a fear now among these people that the delays will mean they will not be able to achieve the goal of having the houses built and completed by 1 April, which they are supposed to be and when the scheme is supposed to conclude. The scheme is too narrow. I ask the Minister to extend that scheme from April this year to at least the end of 2024 because of the delays that have been caused by Uisce Éireann and other planning matters, such as getting planning permission and everything else. People want to do it and engage to solve the housing crisis, but the window is too narrow.

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