Dr. Martina Cleary:

The Deputy hit the nail on the head with the word "suffering". With a new research project, I recently visited homes I had not been to for about two years. As to why there have been only 49 applications so far since the launch of the scheme in Clare, I have dealt with homeowners in their 70s. One of them, who is 75 years of age, came to the most recent public meeting and asked what he is supposed to do. He said he cannot secure a loan from the bank and asked what he will be passing on. All I could advise him to do was apply to the scheme in order that he will not be passing on a derelict site with a hole in the ground to his children. How can he even approach a bank? It is that level of suffering. Even people in their 50s have told me they are not going to put themselves or their children through that for whatever time they have left and will instead just keep patching up their house. It is about quality of life.

In the case of another couple, the gentleman, who is 69 years of age, has retired and has just had a hip replacement. They had a beautiful family home but they are living in one room because it is freezing outside it. They cannot open the doors to get from their kitchen into their living room. They have one bedroom left to sleep in that does not have black mould in it. That is their quality of life as they face into their 70s. It is a tragic and shocking disgrace.

As part of my research, I went to Mayo last weekend and spoke to a woman who has been campaigning for over a decade. She has lost her husband. She said her husband will never come home. I do not want to go into too much detail, but she said his quality of life and his health have gone beyond repair. She has lost her family and not just her home. I do not know how she was even able to give an interview in that circumstance. Her only son was tearing down the home around her and she had lost her husband, who will never come home to her. This side of the story is a shocking disgrace on this State, but the discussions have only been about money and technical matters up to this point.