Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. I would not like to be in County Donegal or County Clare and listening to these proceedings. The witnesses are a group of experts invited in here today, knowing what they were coming in to do and to say, knowing that we are policymakers here and were inevitably going to ask them questions. It is very despondent. If this were another forum or classroom, I would ask the witnesses to leave, to go away, do their work and come back in two weeks. That is my gut feeling and I have put it as respectfully as I can. A few minutes ago, I received a text from a man in Donegal who asked what the hell is going on. That was his language, not mine. I can understand why people would be terribly despondent in the context of what is a crisis for people in homes that are literally crumbling in front of them. They have no money in their pockets and they have nowhere else to go. We have been talking about this for years. Let us call a spade a spade. It is an exceptionally disappointing day for this committee. I do not understand how anyone could have got up this morning and come in here with such vague responses to the questions asked. I say that respectfully. I am not having a pop at anyone. As assistant secretary at the Department, I want Ms Stapleton to take that back to her officials.

I understand the Cabinet today agreed to include County Sligo. She might just confirm whether that is the case. I am conscious of time.

Reference was made to the interagency defective concrete blocks technical matters steering group. I ask for a sentence or two on that issue, to be followed up with a detailed written summary of what it is all about. What are the findings? Let those of us on this side of the room try to understand what the issues and problems are and the impediments. I ask for a commitment to share that information with us in due course.

I thank Mr. Jordan for the work the Housing Agency does. Ms Stapleton made the valid point that consistency in approach is important and that the Housing Agency has that role. That is important. It is obvious from this meeting and from hearing what the witnesses have brought to the table that we need a dashboard scheme to be updated monthly with all the various categories of where we are and where the progress is right across the whole country in the context of the scheme. I ask for that suggestion to be taken back to the Department. I am seeking a collaborative approach, involving all the agencies, on the provision of a dashboard. We have such a dashboard for forestry. Every month we receive a dashboard on the targets, deliveries and various categories. Clearly there is a lack of understanding of what is going on.

Mr. Jordan referred about resources. I will wrap up in a few minutes and he can then respond. Are there sufficient resources in the agency to deal with the problems in hand?

I thank Mr. Kelly of the CCMA for his comprehensive presentation. I note that the scheme for social housing impacted on by defective blocks is in draft form. The committee is dealing with this. When is the deadline? Is there a period of consultation? I am not suggesting we need more consultations. We need to get action. We need to get these houses up and running and remediated. Mr. Kelly might share with us where we are in respect of all of that. The committee would greatly benefit from having sight of that draft, if possible. Mr. Kelly might comment on that.

Finally, Engineers Ireland made a particularly interesting point relating to the ongoing review of IS 465. Mr. Owens stated: "Given the quantum of remediated properties and the total sum of grants awarded under the scheme may exceed €2 billion, it is unreasonable to expect a relatively small number of professionals to shoulder the potential indemnification costs". That is a challenge to us. He might elaborate on that, and its implications for his industry.