Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. There is no doubt that a number of homes have been remediated. The Minister of State has gone through the figures in that regard. We have set the bar very high, however. The homes that have been remediated are in category 2 whereby the pyrite level is above that set down in the Pyrite Resolution Act but many other homeowners have been left in limbo. The Minister of State will be familiar with these people because some of them reside in his constituency. They have no last resort in circumstances in which their insurers, Home Bond and others have walked away. I refer to those whose homes which have category 1 pyrite damage. Such damage is not sufficient to qualify for inclusion in the scheme but it nevertheless renders people's homes valueless. Those to whom I refer cannot sell their homes. Are any measures being considered in this regard? I hope we will look at expanding the scheme to deal with these people and give them some hope. At the very least, we should consider that where such individuals carry out remediation work themselves, they should get the tax back or be permitted to write off the costs against future income. There are thousands of people who have been unable to access the scheme. Respectfully, I note that the reason there were only 149 unsuccessful applications is that people with category 1 damage are not applying to the scheme because they know they will be refused.

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