Ms Lisa Hone:

We are approaching one year since the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, made the announcement at the end of November 2021. It was hoped that the scheme would be in place by now. We were hoping that it would be operational and open and the reality is we do not even have a date for the opening of the scheme. At the moment homeowners are left in limbo and an information vacuum. It is cruel what is happening to them. We have homeowners in unsafe and unhealthy homes that in any other circumstances would be and should be absolutely condemned. Those homeowners should not be in those homes but they literally have nowhere else to go. That is the reality.

In terms of the concrete levy, the overall feeling among homeowners is that it is a smokescreen. It is a PR exercise on behalf of Government to try to persuade the public that it is doing something. The public is aware of this failure to govern the concrete industry and the enormous impact it has had on homeowners all around the country. We have homes in Donegal, Clare, Mayo and now Wexford. It is everywhere. It is not just a few bad apples. This is a systematic failure within the concrete industry across the country. This seems to be no more than a smokescreen from Government to persuade the public it is doing something and holding companies that violated regulations to account, but this will not touch them. Those companies are still operating unhindered. They have not paid one cent. They have not been challenged in any way. As I mentioned in my statement, we are still waiting appointment of the senior counsel to work a way forward and pursue the offenders. We are still waiting for an audit report the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, commissioned at the end of October last year. That is another anniversary approaching. I believe the report was produced and submitted to the Minister by the end of June this year. Yet homeowners who are intensely interested in its contents have not had any information. People just feel abandoned at the moment. That is the overall feeling.