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

In some ways we heard the "change is imminent" response last year, but I realise it is more imminent this year. There is a disparity between circumstances in which citizens owe the Revenue Commissioners money and those in which the Revenue Commissioners owe citizens. The speed at which matters are addressed is not the same. That is a really cruel blow for people to take. We have heard of families who have had deductions for property tax taken from their wages despite the fact that their houses were included in the pyrite remediation scheme. There was the ludicrous position in which of one arm of the State was willing to spend €40,000 to remediate a property while the Revenue Commissioners, another arm of the State, could not give the owner an exemption of a couple of hundred euro per year because they argued there was no proof that the families were affected by pyrite. I am glad that is being addressed, with a statement from the Pyrite Remediation Board or Premier Insurance under the other guarantee being adequate. It is still not enough.

The Government is repeating the inadequacies that exist within the pyrite remediation scheme, which is geographically limited, does not take into account the other damage highlighted by Deputy Doherty, and is based on damage. The problem is that the people in what is probably the best position are those with the most damage. They can move and have their properties remediated. Those in the middle, whose houses are damaged but have been deemed not to be damaged enough despite being in a pyrite area, have it worse. They cannot sell or move and they will not have the property remediated. Nevertheless, they are hit with this bill because of the Government's failure to take up my amendment. That is regrettable, and I will press the amendment on that basis.

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