Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact the board is up and running and that the process is underway. We do not know whether it will be a success but I will not prejudge it. I accept a lot of the problems being flagged are a result of the fact that this is unknown territory. While acknowledging that and accepting the bona fides of the Minister in that regard, he has failed to answer a huge part of the questions I asked.

The contributions and involvement of HomeBond in this matter is of huge concern for residents. It walked away from homeowners with claims a number of years ago, and has now been resurrected from the dead and re-involved in the process. The Minister referred to it being involved in management and having technical services. It has already tested some houses, but the benefit of those tests cannot be passed onto homeowners now to avail of remediation schemes.

The Minister has not answered the fact it has €25 million in a bank account which will not be drawn on for any other purposes because it is now a properly constituted insurance scheme. The moneys collected under the old scheme will not be drawn on anything other than pyrite. Why has the Minister not requested that money be brought to the table? Many of the measures seem to be restricting participants and homeowners in accessing the fund and are dictated by money or lack thereof. Surely HomeBond should put that money into this kitty.

Could the Minister comment on the fact that HomeBond has been in a number of estates with pyrite with developers and has minimised and talked down damage which residents believe to be caused by pyrite? They have been told not to worry because it is not pyrite. Will that not be a problem if they will be involved in the process later on?

See this speech in context