Ms Lisa Hone:

We have attended a number of meetings of the committee at this stage. I have also been to a finance committee meeting. At every one of those, the issue of accountability has been raised. Three years ago the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, promised that senior counsel would be appointed. An independent regulator was also promised, but that has still not happened. There is no movement. We are just stonewalled at every turn. It does not matter whether it is on the issue of the science, cost, accountability or mortgageability. These are all fundamental flaws that stopped the scheme from working.

Meanwhile there is no accountability. As Dr. Cleary rightly pointed out, we are not to blame for any of this. All we did was buy houses. We did so just as anybody else in the country does. We did all the checks and balances. We had solicitors and surveyors. We did everything right. We did not do anything differently, but this has landed at our door.

There were comments about what cap we should have. There should not be a cap. We paid for these houses. Size is irrelevant. This is not our fault. We did not cause this. This was caused by negligence on the part of the State, which did not have regulatory governance of any meaningful type in place to stop this happening. It went on for years because there was nobody to put the brakes on. There was no mechanism in the State. Those responsible for the market surveillance must have been living in La La land.

This cannot be put at the door of homeowners. There must be a public inquiry to find out the root cause of this. God forbid that this happens again, particularly as the systems in this country are fundamentally the same as they were when it happened. There has been no fundamental change in market surveillance, follow-up or how quarries operate since it happened. Everybody in the State is at risk. We are not only fighting for our own homes, but we are also fighting for the State to make meaningful changes so that everybody in Ireland is protected because right now they are not.