Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

We are now in a new phase of the scheme. Inevitably, there would be teething problems. The board is confident that it can achieve its target of having 600 houses completed by the end of next year. I welcome that and hope it is the case.

I refer to some of the issues that have emerged during the remediation works. In some areas, when homeowners moved out, the job took longer because of structural problems that emerged in the course of the remediation of the infill or other issues that were outside the control of the homeowners. These homeowners have had to enter into three-month leases in rented accommodation, move their post and, for example, be eligible for two water charges bills, and the idea of the works being extended beyond a couple of weeks throws that into crisis because of the inability to extend. People do not operate on that basis. Is the board considering that it is not reasonable to expect the homeowners in that situation to bear the extra cost?

Issues have emerged about the quality of the replacement products, that they are not up to standard with what some of the homeowners had in terms of flooring, house decoration, etc. That needs to be looked at. In particular, there is the issue of the need to change the scheme away from being purely damage-based. Once the scheme gets up and running, we must look at those who have pyrite with less damage.

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