Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for appearing before us and for their work on this issue. There is a massive lack of trust among homeowners because of the way they have been treated. Initially they ended up in the scheme. The point was made earlier by one of the homeowner representatives that all of the key performance indicators in the scheme were on the homeowner. The homeowner gets a deadline to provide information and a timescale to get it done and billed for. There is very little on the Housing Agency and the local authorities. What is the Housing Agency's view around that and putting in key performance indicators so that the homeowner will be treated with respect and will know when his or her application will be dealt with when it goes to the Housing Agency or the local authorities?

The appeals board makes a recommendation but the Housing Agency decides. If the appeals board is truly independent, it should have the power to make decisions as well rather than the Housing Agency making the ultimate decision based on the opinion of the appeals board. Can the witnesses from the Housing Agency clarify that?

My next question is for the Department. What is the timeline for the regulations if the legislation is passed before we go into recess? What is the projected timeline for the publication of the regulations of the scheme? I cannot overstate how real the issue of mental health is. It is very specific to people who live in a home with either pyrite, mica or pyrrhotite. There are homeowners who are appropriately qualified. There are homeowners affected by pyrite, mica and inevitably pyrrhotite who have appropriate qualifications relating to mental health and they should prioritised with regard to support because they have walked and are walking the walk. I do not think anyone of us here who is not in this situation truly knows what it is like to go to bed every night and wake up every morning with this problem. This brings us back to the damage threshold. I cannot describe what people went through last July and August in Mayo. It was bad enough knowing they had pyrite. To know that there was no future for them for those four weeks was cruel. There was far more distress because of that than there was as a result of finding out about pyrite. It is essential that the mental health supports are relevant to where people are.