Ms ?ine Stapleton:

I thank the committee for the invitation to discuss the defective concrete blocks scheme. As the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach said, I am an assistant secretary in the Department with responsibilities in housing policy and standards. In this role, I lead on the housing remediation matters. I am accompanied by my colleagues, Mr. Derek Rafferty, principal officer, housing remediation unit, and Mr. John Wickham, senior adviser on building standards.

As the committee will know, the enhanced defective concrete blocks scheme was launched in July 2023. Currently, four designated local authority areas come under the scheme, namely, Donegal, Mayo, Clare and Limerick. The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 also provides a mechanism for additional local authorities to seek inclusion in the scheme, and several other local authorities are currently at various points in the designation process.

The current scheme provides grants to eligible applicants to remediate their homes. It now covers eligible costs up to a maximum of €420,000. The scheme also provides grants, and these are included in the overall cap, for temporary accommodation of €15,000, storage of €5,000 and essential immediate repairs of €5,000. The scheme commenced last July, and more than 2,000 applications are currently at various stages of the process. The local authorities administer the scheme and have been working intensively along with the Housing Agency to process applications and issue grant approvals. The Minister, departmental officials and relevant local councils worked closely with affected homeowners on the development of the enhanced scheme. The Department continues to work through implementation issues with relevant agencies, local authorities and homeowners. We are very grateful for the strong engagement of the homeowners in this process.

The Department is aware that a focus of discussion has been the technical issues surrounding the IS 465 standard dealing with testing and categorisation of damaged buildings incorporating concrete blocks containing certain deleterious materials. An interagency defective concrete blocks technical matters steering group, known as TC73, has been established to support and inform the NSAI standardisation programme about technical issues. The steering group includes representatives from the Department, the NSAI, Geological Survey Ireland, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Housing Agency. The steering group has agreed on a process to specify, procure, fund, and manage research projects. A procurement framework for the provision of laboratory analysis services has been established by GSI to support its Irish construction materials project on concrete products.

In addition, a strategic oversight group has been established by the Department to monitor progress and seek to ensure each participating organisation is supporting the NSAI to deliver on actions as expediently as possible and remove any barriers to progress. The membership of the strategic oversight group includes the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the NSAI, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, Geological Survey Ireland and the Housing Agency.

Any revision to the standard by the NSAI is reliant on the delivery of the evidence-based outputs of key research projects, including those from GSI framework partners, the full evaluation by the relevant technical committee, and the subsequent completion of the standardisation process in accordance with the NSAI’s procedures. My colleagues and I will be happy to answer any questions.