Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue, as we have discussed here and elsewhere, including at meetings with residents, is the difficulty in justifying that level of expenditure on houses which do not necessarily require it at present. We are conscious, however, that people are left in a situation whereby they may not be able to sell their homes. While we are open to teasing this out, I have asked many Deputies whether they could justify spending that money and they have said they could not. As such, we need to find some other solution. I am happy to engage around that but I am not convinced a formal review of the scheme will solve it. We all worked hard to set up the scheme in the first place in 2011 to 2013 and there was a hope then that a levy could be put in place in order to secure funding for this matter. That was not possible and we have had to rely on taxpayers' money to fund remediation in recent years. While some great work has been achieved, there is a category of people who do not necessarily have severe damage now but who nevertheless have a problem in that they are stuck with owning the house. I am happy to engage with the Deputy on that in the months ahead. The money has been set aside to finish dealing with the houses that have passed the testing to date.

On the legal issue, it is not that we have extended the date but that we have addressed the category of persons who ought to have known. The Department took legal advice from the Attorney General and provided it to the board which will proceed to decide cases on the basis of it.

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