Ms Moyagh Murdock:

I thank the Deputy. To clarify, home insurance covers perils such as fire, storm, flood and theft. Deleterious materials are not and have never been covered by home insurance. That will not change with this scheme. However, on receipt of the certificate of remediation from the homeowner signed off by the engineers, the insurers, although they will all make their own underwriting decision themselves, will insure that home under those normal terms as if it was a home in Louth, Meath or wherever. We are quite clear on that, but we, as part of that chain, also depend on receipt of that certificate of remediation. The question of something happening down the line because the foundations were not removed or whatever would not have come into it before the certificate or after because defective material or defective design is not an insurable peril under normal home insurance cover. The insurers have committed to treating it no less favourably than a normal homeowner and it covers fire, theft, flood and other insurable perils.