Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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It is almost a year since the Government received the report of the working group to examine defects in housing. Laid out in the report is a shocking tale of builders cutting corners and using loopholes inserted by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in terms of self-certification with devastating consequences for apartment and duplex owners. The report suggests that a majority of apartments and duplexes built between 1991 and 2013 - between 50% and 80% - are affected by defects. That is an incredible figure. It means that between 62,500 and 100,000 apartments and duplexes are affected by a range of defects, mostly fire defects. The average cost to fix each apartment or duplex will be €25,000. I have no doubt that figure will increase rather than decrease over time.

Thanks to the campaigning of residents across the country, who came together in the Not Our Fault campaign, and the lobbying of the Construction Defects Alliance, at the start of this year the Government promised a 100% redress scheme that will include retrospection, which is extremely welcome. However, the devil is in the detail. The Government claims to have a 100% redress scheme in place for the people affected by mica. However, those people do not agree that is happening and are completely unsatisfied.

I have a number of questions. One is about the timeframe involved. The whole thing seems to be happening extremely slowly. There was the leak of a report of an advisory group set up to develop a code of practice in The Irish Timeson Monday. That suggests, and it is reflected in the paper by the Construction Defects Alliance, that the timeframe the Government is looking at is heads of Bill developed by the end of the year and, hopefully, a scheme in place by autumn 2024. This seems to be extraordinarily slow. We have known this issue has existed for years and have had the details since July of last year. If the timeframe of autumn 2024 slips, then we are probably going beyond the timeframe of the next general election.

Second is a question about retrospection. There are hints in The Irish Timesarticle of resistance in the Department to retrospection - the idea that, where people have paid out to fix their apartments or duplexes, that needs to be paid by the State, which it absolutely does. The State should then pursue the builders responsible.

The third and crucial issue is emergency funding. In January, the Minister spoke about the possibility of emergency funding. They were looking into it and so on. There is a reference now to interim funding in the report from The Irish Times. This needs to happen before the end of the year. Look at the fire that happened in Blanchardstown a couple of weeks ago. Fires can and will happen in multi-unit developments. If they have fire defects, as the majority built between 1991 and 2013 do, those fires can spread extremely quickly. It would be grossly negligent of the Government not to have emergency funding in place for the necessary measures, bearing in mind the majority of people living in these places do not even know they are affected.

Fourth, the Minister at the time spoke about speaking to the insurance companies to deal with apartment owners management companies finding it difficult to get insurance. It is not clear if there is any progress on that.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, Deputy Darragh O’Brien. I thank the Deputy for raising this and providing us with an opportunity to update the House on this important matter. I assure the House of this Government’s commitment to supporting homeowners and residents of many apartments and duplexes that have defects.

I fully acknowledge the stress caused when defects arise in the homes and buildings people live in. Since receiving Government approval in January 2023 of the draft legislation to establish supports for the remediation of defects, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has been working to progress the various programmes of work required to replace the remediation scheme on a statutory footing. The Deputy will appreciate it does take time to get a scheme like this completed and established on a statutory footing through a process in the Houses.

A key aspect of this work is developing a code of practice in the context of the Fire Services Acts to provide guidance to relevant professionals, including guidance on interim safety measures. The development of this code of practice was a key recommendation of the working group that the Minister established to examine defects in housing. The group working includes industry professionals and representatives of the local authority fire services, the Housing Agency and the Department. The work of the group is nearing completion, and the Department expects to be in a position to publish the code of practice for public consultation in the weeks to come.

The code of practice will be a key feature on which the operations of the statutory scheme will be based. It will support the development of a reasonable and practical approach to resolving fire safety defects and to ensuring a consistent approach nationwide to remediation. While the code of practice will apply to the remediation of fire safety defects, it could be built upon in regard to the remediation of structural and water ingress defects in due course. The Deputy can see the priority is in terms of fire safety. The issue of the remediation of structural and water ingress defects can be looked at subsequent to dealing with the fire safety issue. The Deputy highlighted the recent fire in Blanchardstown. Everybody will accept that we must deal with this aspect as an immediate and early part of the process.

The scheme will be administered by the Housing Agency nationwide. Interaction and interdependency with the local authority fire services and others will need to be considered, with the remediation of fire safety defects carried out to the satisfaction of the local authority fire services. An advice and information service portal within the Housing Agency is in the process of being established. In addition, work is under way to draft the required legislation, which will include the scope, eligibility and conditions of the remediation scheme. While the Department is working on the development of the scheme as a matter of priority, sufficient time is required to draft the legislation in order to ensure that the scheme is fit for purpose, provides value for taxpayers' money and contains appropriate oversight and governance measures.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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I appreciate that the Minister of State is not the line Minister, but he did say he appreciated the opportunity to update the House on this important matter. He did not really provide that much of an update, however, apart from the fact, which we know from The Irish Times, that the code of practice, which has been referred to previously in the Dáil, is being developed. What is worrying is that mention was made of a code of practice "including guidance on interim safety measures". That would be welcome because we do need guidance on interim safety measures, but to make these happen, we need money.

Funding is needed, because the bottom line is that people cannot afford to pay €20,000 or whatever to make their homes safe. None of this is the fault of those people. They are not responsible for the situation and they do not have the money to pay for the remediation. If we identify that there is a serious fire risk in apartment buildings, in terms of the threat of a fire spreading rapidly, then we must urgently provide funding to ensure the work is done to make these apartments safe on an interim basis while the full scheme is rolled out. That is essential. It would be grossly negligent of the Government not to take this action in light of the information it has in front of it.

I did not get an answer, but perhaps the Minister will provide one in respect of the issues of retrospection and insurance. On the timeframe, I again stress the urgency regarding all of this. I encourage the Minister or any Member of the House to come out and meet the campaigners, who are people living in the conditions I have outlined. In light of the fire in Blanchardstown, they are thinking about these safety issues more. They are outside the Dáil every Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Next week, the Not Our Fault campaign is planning a 24-hour protest. If people are free at any stage in the day, they can go out and talk to these people and get a sense of the urgency, especially in respect of emergency or interim funding, or whatever we want to call it. Money must be involved to ensure this work happens before the end of the year.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I again thank the Deputy for highlighting this issue. It is important to again assure the House of the Government's commitment to deal with the issue of defects in apartment buildings and to assist homeowners who find themselves in a difficult financial position. I fully appreciate that the affected homeowners want the remediation scheme to be established immediately. I assure the House that the Government shares this ambition. I did mention, however, that legislation must be enacted. Hopefully, this will get a good passage through the Houses once it is brought forward.

In the meantime, it is important that the owners' management companies do not pause the undertaking of important lifesaving work. For this reason, the Government has agreed that remediation works relating to fire safety defects entered into or commenced from 18 January 2023 will form part of the remediation scheme, subject to the proper terms and conditions. The details of this process are being worked out as a priority in parallel with the code of practice. This deals with fire safety defects where work was entered into or commenced from 18 January 2023 and is an element of retrospection.

As the works continue, the Minister looks forward to continuing engagement with key stakeholders and encourages all interested parties to participate in the public consultation on the code of practice when it is launched in the coming weeks. Primarily, the first instance, it will deal with the fire safety issue. The code of practice will provide for a system of certification whereby fire safety remediation works, when completed in accordance with the provisions of the code and signed by the competent building professional and competent builder, will demonstrate that the defects discovered have been satisfactorily remediated. This will benefit all stakeholders. As I mentioned, local authority fire safety certification will also be required.

I will speak directly to the Minister about this issue. The Deputy mentioned the timetable. I have provided some dates. An element of retrospection is dealt with in that regard. I am sure it is not to everybody's satisfaction, but there is an element of retrospection regarding work commenced earlier this year. I am sure that the issue of funding, especially for fire safety work, will be dealt with once the document is published. I will bring the matters relating to management companies and insurance to the attention of the Minister later today.