Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 13 July 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Defective Block Scheme Regulations and Review of IS 465: Discussion

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I thank the homeowners in particular for the powerful and strong testimony they gave. The State is compounding the stress and trauma for homeowners instead of alleviating it. That is not forgivable. If there is one takeaway from this, it should be that we must listen to the homeowners who have been living through this. I want to ask about IS 465 and foundations. We were told that if a problem is seen with the foundations, it would be addressed. What if a problem with foundations is not seen? It is not going to be addressed. To take the analogy, if a house was on fire, had burned down and there was any question of the embers not being put out or a risk of the fire respreading, there would be no question of rebuilding until you were certain about the safety. Why are we in a situation in which there is no certainty?