Mr. Tom Parlon:

I do not think that there was any regulation with regard to concrete blocks at the time, which was a major deficit in the Government policy. There was no regulation. Yet, the bulk of block manufacturers throughout the country in every small town and small block manufacturing quarry and pit around the country made good quality blocks. Those houses are all there to the good.

I am no geologist but mica is a naturally occurring substance. Perhaps the manufacturers were not aware of its presence. I am not sure about that but whoever was producing any material would have had an obligation that it would be fit for purpose. Clearly, these particular blocks are defective concrete blocks that caused the problem and that is the root cause of it. I can understand why people would be inclined to say the industry should pay. Of course, somebody should pay. Eventually, it will be every taxpayer in the country who will pay. However, if one points at those in the industry, they will say they were very careful about where they bought blocks and from whom they bought their concrete and that ultimately, they trust them and if there were to be a problem, they would be able to go back after them and so on. One might be going back after a small project that went wrong but going back with a bill for a couple of billion euro is a different category. Mr. Mahon spoke about how different organisations put by a fund for such eventualities but I do not think that anybody was going to have a couple of billion euro set aside. This is an extraordinary outcome that has happened and clearly it has to be addressed now.