Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I welcome the intention to provide for a three-year exemption for residential properties affected by pyrite, many of which are in my constituency of Dublin North. While this represents yet another half-step towards rectifying the pyrite crisis, I am asking for more than half-steps. We need to make a bigger leap forward.

This amending Bill provides for a methodology for assessing residential properties and testing of subfloor hard core material to establish the presence of significant pyritic damage. When the Minister makes the relevant regulations, he will be required to have regard to the new standards published by the National Standards Authority of Ireland. I contend that these regulations are too restrictive for the purposes of allowing an exemption from the local property tax. The regulations mean that the only households which will qualify for exemptions will be those meeting the restrictive requirements of the red category from the Pyrite Panel report. I suggest it does not matter if a house is in the green, amber or red category - if it has any level of pyrite or is in a pyrite-affected estate, it is valueless in effect because it is impossible to sell. Some home owners paid for tests to prove the presence of pyrite before the new standards were published. They need a definite assurance in this legislation that their test results will be valid for the purposes of the exemption. The majority of home owners who are unable to afford these tests, because they just do not have the money, need some breathing space.

The Pyrite Resolution Board, which is just beginning its work, will administer a fund for pyritic remediation. I am lobbying for money from this fund to be set aside to help hard-pressed families to pay for testing, as well as being used for the remediation process itself. Many people know that the homes they own are affected by pyrite because its adverse effects are so obvious, but they cannot afford the thousands of euro needed to get tests done. If these home owners were given an exemption, it would give the Pyrite Resolution Board enough space to assist with testing costs. I believe that in almost all suspected cases, such testing would prove the presence of significant pyritic damage. We know from the work of the Pyrite Panel where these estates are. Any time the Minister is free, we can go for a drive to north County Dublin and visit the estates and individual homes affected. Nationally, the number of houses and estates affected is quite small.

As the Minister said, we are exceeding our budgetary targets as set by the troika. Due to his negotiating skills and those of his colleagues, we have given ourselves €1 billion worth of budgetary breathing space by renegotiating the promissory notes. We have enough space to relax the exemption requirements in a way that ensures all houses and estates affected by pyrite can avail of the exemption. The imposition of a time limit on the exemption would ensure everyone involved, especially the Pyrite Resolution Board, acts in an expedient manner to assist householders to rectify their homes. This is required at this time and is the fairest thing to do. I ask that the Bill be amended accordingly. I urge the Minister to put himself in the shoes of those whose homes are affected by pyrite. If he does so, he will introduce an amendment to the effect that all houses in non-remediated pyrite-affected housing estates will be exempt from the property tax. There is no market for such houses. They will have no value until they are remediated and certified as being pyrite-free. The legislation does not allow for self-valuation at zero level. There is general goodwill towards the Government's efforts to deal with the pyrite crisis. It can build on that goodwill by responding positively today. The lost revenue from such a response would be quite minuscule and would last for a limited period of time.

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