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

We have a problem because that is really not good enough. We have been told previously that the Thornhill report would be available no later than the summer, which I took to mean I would have it no later than then.

We are well into autumn now and we are expecting yet another announcement on budget day. The points the Minister made about legislative change were well flagged last year. Is his Government going to announce, on budget day, that it has a potential solution even though, three years ago, its backbenchers were telling people they would be exempt from the property tax if their homes were affected by pyrite? I plead with the Minister on behalf of homeowners who, as we speak, are struggling to pay their mortgages and who, in some instances, have had their houses accepted into the remediation scheme but who are receiving harassment letters from Revenue demanding payment and are being told that this money will be deducted from their salaries. These individuals find themselves in their current position not through any fault of their own but because of the manner in which the legislation was drafted. To receive a response now which is - almost word for word - what I got 20 months ago to the effect that it may need a legislative change, or something else, is not really good enough. If it was the other way around and homeowners owed Revenue money, the latter would not be as tardy as it has been on this issue.

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