Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State will know, families in the council areas of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, Kildare, Meath, Offaly, south Dublin and Dublin city have rightly benefited from the pyrite redress scheme and that is the template under which he should move forward. He confirms that the tests carried out by his Department, like the tests carried out on behalf of Donegal County Council, have established that there are homes affected by mica within the county. The impact is devastating and terrifying. Can the Minister of State imagine a family who know that the gable of their house is affected by seriously defective blocks which could, according to engineers, collapse? The concrete ceiling over their heads is being held up by these blocks and it, too, could collapse. This is the terror families face. There are also families who cannot have their homes insured.

The problem in taking the legal route is the same as that in dealing with the pyrite issue - the Statute of Limitations comes into play. Will the Minister of State, please, not abandon these families to legal recourse? It is clear that they purchased their homes and the blocks to build them in good faith and now they are left in this situation because of poor regulation, as was also demonstrated in the pyrite issue. The 20 recommendations made in the pyrite report stress the issues around regulation, poor standards and the need for change. The families in question are caught up in a similar debacle. I appeal to the Minister of State to put in place a mica redress scheme Bill, along the lines of what was brought forward to deal with the pyrite issue. Will he, please, not abandon the hundreds of families across the county of Donegal to the terrible dilemma in which they find themselves?

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