Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I stand proudly to support this motion and thank Deputies Mac Lochlainn and Conway-Walsh for putting it forward. I acknowledge the Minister's work on this issue in recent months and over the past number of days in particular. It is important that his huge effort and great personal commitment to the matter give results for homeowners. We in this House and the Minister do not have time for delays. Homeowners, their families and their communities do not have time. We need a scheme that begins to deliver without any further delay. Homeowners' lives are broken. For every crumbling block, there is a crumbling life. I spoke to homeowners this evening who have been campaigning on this issue for nearly ten years. I commend all of those involved. Their courage in telling their stories stands in contrast to the lack of courage and the behaviour of quarry owners and various agencies that have left homeowners abandoned in this.

The motion commits to a scheme of 100% redress and that is what must be delivered. Priority must be given to homeowners but we cannot ignore the rental sector. To ignore those houses would mean being left with a decimated rental stock. There are other areas of home ownership that are excluded from the current scheme and they must also be addressed. We must have a mechanism to include homeowners in other counties, particularly County Sligo. The process for rolling out the scheme needs to be addressed and made much easier. The role of the Pyrite Resolution Board and its experience in running the current scheme should be incorporated within local authorities. There must be agreement on a communal and shared cost per square foot. In assessing applications, local authorities are using a model that is very different from the reality in terms of current building costs. Those costs have increased by 30% since February and many applications that were submitted at that time are going out of date. We need a State guarantee around building because builders will not engage with the scheme in that aspect. We also need to follow up on a State inquiry as to why those who caused this problem are getting away with it. If they are still getting away with it, that needs to be resolved urgently, without any further delay.

The first scheme had the basis of a good system but its roll-out, the lack of commitment to it from local authorities and the detail of it, which did not involve homeowners, made it a scheme that is not working. I welcome the Minister's inclusion of homeowners on this occasion. We must ensure they own the scheme and that it delivers for their families and communities and will take away the trauma of their daily lives in houses with pyrite and mica. I acknowledge the trauma it is causing people, forcing them to leave bedrooms at night because of draughts and sleep in sitting rooms, or even forcing them to leave their homes.

When they leave their homes to have them repaired, they must be given compensation for the rental costs.

I wish the Minster well with this. Residents in counties Mayo, Sligo and Donegal were sold defective blocks. They will not be sold a pup in relation to this scheme. I ask that the Minister to stand with them, because I certainly will.

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