Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for being here today, especially the homeowners, for sharing not only their lived experiences but those of many of their neighbours. I also thank the representatives of the Society of Chartered Surveyors who volunteered their time and expertise to helping those homeowners who, as Dr. Cleary said, are going through mental torture.

One thing I was glad to hear was that the issues are not insurmountable. That was a key message for me to hear from homeowners because I want to make sure this works and it is done right. I have a couple of specific questions to inform myself about how we can improve things. Two are for Engineers Ireland.

The point was made that remediated properties must be allowed to be sold and mortgaged and referenced the mundic scheme. I am not familiar with it. Will he elaborate on it?

My second question was already raised by the previous speaker. It relates to professional indemnity insurance. This sounds like a huge challenge. I would like to tease it out a little further to see how we can overcome it so that homeowners are protected and so that companies, such as the one Engineers Ireland referenced, that may have alternative solutions are not too afraid to put them on the table. We need innovation in this issue.

The expert group has done a huge amount of work in recent years on the recommendations that have been put forward to the Government. Having heard testimonies today about the "100% except", the exclusion of foundations, and the responsibilities being put on homeowners for project managing a whole rebuild and the practicalities of that, does the chair of the expert group think the scheme is adequate? Does it need to be improved and, if so, how?