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

I thank the witnesses for their opening statements. I will rattle through a bunch of questions and if witnesses do not have time to respond, it would be helpful if they send a brief written response to the committee if possible. These questions are aimed at clarifying the legislation to help us scrutinise the Bill in advance of it being introduced in the Dáil next week.

In terms of head 13, will Ms Timmons or Mr. Benson talk the members through the cost underpinnings of the scheme when it opens? When is the first review of those cost underpinnings, the unit costs and the cap, likely to take place? How will that interact with the NSAI recommendations when the review is published later next year, just to give us a sense of the timelines? Crucially, what will happen if, when that review takes place, construction sector inflation as recommended by the SCSI is above the 10% cap within which the Minister is meant to remain?

I am aware that the Bill, which has not yet been published, has something different to say with respect to foundations compared with what is in head 15. It would be useful if the witnesses could outline in general terms what is in the Bill as opposed to what is in head 15. My understanding is that there may be a delay in the NSAI review and that there has been a delay in the tender process. What is the best guesstimate as to when that is likely to be completed and published?

On head 21, what will be the criteria for people to be on the appeals board, because that is not in the heads and how can we ensure independence? The local authorities and approved housing bodies are obviously very interested in head 32. Will there be a grant application process to which approved housing bodies and local authorities with defective-block buildings will be able to apply?

Some of us had expected that there might be something around a no-penalty downsizing clause within the scheme. Was it considered and if so, why was it dropped at the end? Will the witnesses reassure us that local authorities will get additional resources to be able to process the work when the new scheme opens?