Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 10, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following:

“Report on the treatment of construction defect levies 3. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the design and cost of a scheme for the granting of tax credits in respect of—

(a) payments within the previous 15 years made by an owner-occupier to his or her owners’ management company (within the meaning of the Multi-Unit Development Act 2011) on foot of a levy imposed to remedy any construction defect in the multi-unit development concerned, and

(b) costs directly incurred within the previous 15 years by an owner-occupier of a dwelling to remedy any construction defect in the dwelling concerned,

where “construction defect” means any defect arising from the design of, or workmanship or materials used in the construction of, the development or dwelling concerned.”.

This amendment relates to those living in defective apartments. This is an issue with which the committee, the Minister and, indeed, the entire Oireachtas will be familiar. In order to be helpful, I will read the amendment into the record as I believe it is important to do so. It relates to the report on the treatment of construction defect levies. It proposes that the Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the design and cost of a scheme for the granting of tax credits in respect of (a) payments within the previous 15 years made by an owner-occupier to his or her owners’ management company on foot of a levy imposed to remedy any construction defect in the multi-unit development concerned; and (b) costs directly incurred within the previous 15 years by an owner-occupier of a dwelling to remedy any construction defect in the dwelling concerned, where "construction defect" means any defect arising from the design of, or workmanship or materials used in the construction of, the development or dwelling concerned. The amendment is self-explanatory.

By way of context, the Labour Party proposed a similar amendment last year. The difference between that discussion and the discussion we are about to have is that we can now rely on some of the recommendations of the working group report that was published in July. We know the report is very clear in several respects. It states the Government should provide financial support to owners who have paid, or are paying, remediation levies, be it through their management company or by taking on personal responsibility for works to avoid moral hazard. There is also the question of equity and fairness in the treatment of those who own their apartment and landlords, which I will come to later.

The Minister will be aware, from his constituency work and in representing the interests of those living in apartments with construction defects, of fire safety and general structural risks, as well as the investment people have made in recent years to make sure they can remediate and mitigate some of the risks that exist. This involves a substantial financial outlay. Given what we know from the working group report, the last thing anyone wants is for a discontinuation of works that have already been undertaken. There is a real risk in that regard.

This has been going on for far too long and we need clarity on what kind of financial support the Government will make available to apartment owners to assist them in addressing and remediating the defects in their apartments. There is a moral hazard question in that, which the Minister will be aware of, and on which the working group is clear. It is a significant question and it needs to be addressed.

On the equity and fairness, I acknowledge the Tánaiste's comments in the Dáil on 14 July in response to a question posed by my colleague, the Labour Party leader, Deputy Bacik. He said: "It would be unfair if those who have made a contribution already did not get any State support while those who did not or could not did." We can all agree that the Tánaiste is correct in this regard. On the principle of equity, landlords can claim back business expenses if they have invested in or remediated any properties they own. That same kind of financial support and assistance does not apply to ordinary owner-occupiers living in their apartments who are fearful of the risk to them, their family and their property.

This amendment seeks to concentrate minds and calls on the Department of Finance and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to focus on the granting of tax credits to those who have already paid to have remediation work done on their apartments, and that work is ongoing, and to ensure that any costs directly incurred over the past 15 years are addressed through some mechanism. We propose a mechanism whereby tax credits could be applied for work that was done over the past 15 years.

The last thing we want to see is a lack of clarity and more uncertainty, which has been a problem. Otherwise, we will see the stalling of fire safety remediation works. We do not want that to become widespread because of the inherent health and safety risks involved.