Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations, not just for the information but the very reasonable and measured way they have brought that to the committee. I have three very specific questions. My first question is for Dr. Leemann. Given everything he knows about the kinds of deleterious materials that are in these counties, what does he think when he hears of options for just the outer leaf and not the inner leaf, or the brickwork but not the foundations? The source of the aggregate might be the same or similar for the brick and the foundations. Does he think these are credible options, based on his knowledge of the science?

We have moved away from talking about pyrite and mica exclusively to a range of other deleterious materials. Based on Mr. Campbell's understanding and the information that is out there, what is the level of prevalence of these materials in any of the affected counties that he has knowledge of?

The way this legislation is set up, the first review of the unit cost the Minister can do is 12 months after the introduction of the legislation. The legislation is due to be commenced in late autumn or early winter of this year. It would therefore be late autumn or early winter 2023 before the Minister would be allowed to revise the base rates upwards. Given what Mr. Houton knows in general about cost price inflation, and given that the original base rate was set early this year, where does he think costs will be two years after that original SCSI report? How big a gap will there be between those rates and where inflation is going to be at the latter end of 2023?