Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this report and welcome its publication. It is the result of the independent panel established by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government last year. Our home is the biggest investment we will ever make in our lives, financially and emotionally. I can only imagine how I would feel if I had to go through what some of these people who have been affected by this awful occurrence have been through. I think of the people in Edenderry in Offaly who have been in contact with me, and it is appalling to see what they have been going through.

I welcome the findings of the independent review, however, that the figures are lower than estimated for the number of homes affected. I realise that is no consolation to those who were affected but it means the scale of the problem is not as large as we thought. Reflecting on this, a number of issues contributed to it, not least the information deficit in the construction industry. It is difficult to believe that in construction and engineering courses, there was no specific information on pyritic heave. It is extraordinary that people were not even aware this could occur and were not in a position to ensure the chemical testing that should have been done on this hard core was done. From the very beginning, I have seen this as a consumer rights issue and consumers did not get what they paid for. It is still such an issue.

The response of the construction and insurance industries has not been very good, to say the least. It has been appalling. They have a moral responsibility to come with a solution. The hands-off attitude we have seen to date is unacceptable. I am particularly disgusted at the attitude of HomeBond which supplied the structural deficit warranty and withdrew the cover for the pyritic damage. Neither it nor Premier Guarantee will cover testing, which is expensive. Whatever about redoing work that has shown signs of pyritic heave, not to produce the money, which is substantial, for testing in areas of potential damage is disgraceful.

What bugs me is that, since last year, HomeBond would not appear before the joint committee to give an account of itself. It has been invited on numerous occasions and to date it has not appeared. We have discovered it has a representative on the Buildings Regulations Advisory Board. We urge that it not be allowed remain on that board, given the disdain in which it held the joint committee.

To achieve swift movement on the issue, I urge that the pyrite resolution board be set up immediately. The construction industry has had time to figure this out. The board must be put in place and the levies imposed on the industry in order that people can return to their homes and enjoy them, which is what we all want in our place of safety and security. That is what they deserve and what they paid for in the first place. I would like to see them as consumers getting an opportunity to take a class action on this issue to the Competition Authority. I referred to this matter in a contribution in the House earlier in the year and it is something I would like to see them being in a position to do.

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