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

I do not think the remediation is adequate. I will support this for no reason other than to prove the Minister wrong in some instances. We must be mindful of the fact many families have already paid hundreds and thousands of euro getting tests done. They have completed the building condition assessment and have been evaluated as category 2 damage. Their houses are deteriorating rapidly as each day goes by yet the Pyrite Resolution Board cannot accept applications. The Minister tells us that, once the legislation is in place, it will lay the basis for that happening. We have heard that before and we really need it delivered upon urgently.

The Minister made the same point he has made every time since his election and since we first discussed the issue, that the State is not responsible. I must correct him in that regard. No one is saying the State organised this but negligence by the State authorities who were to oversee regulations was a contributing factor to the situation. The Building Regulations Advisory Board and the National Standards Authority of Ireland bragged in their literature that they were on top of best practice, technical expertise and keeping abreast of international developments. However, it did not know about pyrite found in Britain and Canada many years previously. There was knowledge of the geological composition of the Tober Colleen formation, in particular, being susceptible to pyrite and the fact that quarries were located there. The State was found culpable and found wanting. State action, by virtue of the fact the aggregates panel had to devise a new standard in the area, was an admission that the existing standard was not good enough. The Minister has acknowledge that. That Premier Insurance, the second-largest insurer in the State, will not insure properties up to the new Irish standard is indicative that the new standard is not good enough. It is not surprising because the aggregates panel is made up of precisely the people from the cement and concrete industry, including many quarry owners whose quarries have been deemed to be legally responsible for the material ending up on the market. Another vested interest has been exposed in Irish society.

One of the greatest offenders in this debacle must be HomeBond and I am glad the Minister gave some time to it. However, I am sorry he did not address the point we have been making. HomeBond was set up by the Construction Industry Federation as a structural guarantee but it was not. There were warnings in the public domain as early as 2000 that the scheme was in difficulty and had a financial difficulty. It was allowed to continue. HomeBond is now a proper insurance scheme so there are no further draws on its funds other than, potentially, pyrite. Why do we allow it to sit on a €25 million bank balance when this scheme will kick off with a paltry €10 million? It does not make any sense. What makes it a greater insult to home owners is the organisation closed the door on these families, turned down their claims, and told them they did not have pyrite. When the courts said the quarries were responsible, HomeBond accepted that the houses had pyrite but said it was no longer the responsibility of HomeBond. The idea that these people have expertise and may be involved in the remediation process is an abhorrent prospect for home owners and they will not wear it.

I appreciate that this is the skeletal outline and that we will have the detail of the scheme later. We can deal with the detail on Report Stage tomorrow. However, there are some glaring omissions. Families in the State have paid tens of thousands of euros to do the work themselves. They did not do so because they were rich or had nothing better to do with their money; they did so because there was no other way in which dairy could make their homes safe. There are excluded from the provisions of the Bill. Pyrite Action Group and the home owners lobbying on this issue have not given up the ghost for those home owners who need justice. In the same way as the Minister has clauses in this that the industry should be challenged to foot the bill legally, if compensation comes from one forum then the same should apply to home owners. An issue has been raised in respect of who is eligible to access the scheme. The Minister said that those who were eligible will be those who have exploited all other avenues. There is a question mark over those who have initiated court action in desperation. Are they to be prevented from accessing the scheme? We need clarification on that.

I am glad that houses in category 1 are being included and that some that do not fit the Bill are included. All along, it has been argued that the only way to deal with this is a State-led, systematic, estate-by-estate approach rather than an individual case approach being copperfastened in legislation today. We will find it out to our detriment. There is an urgent need to get these applications live for saving on that basis and we will support the Bill even though we will table amendments on Report Stage.

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