Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend all the people who travelled to the protest today, particularly those from my county of Mayo. The unity between Donegal and Mayo over the years has been extraordinary. It has been many years since my colleague, Deputy Mac Lochlainn, and I raised this issue in the Seanad. At that time, nobody would listen. I commend the work of the action committees. These are my neighbours, friends and people I know. They are worn out by how they have been treated, by both the previous Government and this one. The Minister name-checked all his colleagues and I want to name-check a few people as well. Josephine Murphy and Dorothy Keane have fought for years to get this scheme in place. When we first discovered pyrite in Mayo, the problem was, in the main, confined to the Erris area. Those two people in particular, with others like Michael Healy, fought for years for a scheme to be put in place. It is amazing that these people are not looking for compensation. All they are looking for is their homes to be reinstated. Laura Devers and Jaime-Lee Donnelly have taken up the case in Ballina, as have other members of the action group there, and I commend them as well.

The other day, a man described to me how a bat came in through his house. We have watched this happen over the years. We have watched the cracks widen and the Government throw its hands in the air. Then, it came along with a take-it-or-leave-it scheme. That was the situation these homeowners were in with the so-called 90:10 scheme. It was take it or leave it and it was almost as if the Government wanted people not to take it, so it could say it offered them something and then turn its back again. What part of 100% does the Government not understand? The people who were here today were very polite and mannerly, as the people in the north west are, but the Government should not mistake that for weakness. Something has happened within the west. There is unity within the west about not taking this any more. We do not begrudge the people in the east the 100% scheme they received because they deserved it too, but why should we be treated differently just because we live on the west coast? It happens time and again. Enough is enough and we are not taking it anymore.

Those responsible for what happened here, including the Government and light-touch regulators, have scarpered. The insurance industry, the banks and the suppliers all disappeared because they are used to dealing with Governments that do not hold them to account. They are used to dealing with Governments that are so close to them that they do not have to be held to account. That has to stop now. I saw this come up time and again in the finance committee, whether with the tracker mortgages, the insurance companies or whatever else. It has to stop. The Government is here to protect people and their livelihoods.

Just because people have made applications to this scheme does not mean they have accepted that it is okay. The scheme is clearly not fit for purpose. We must look at the issues like the accommodation, windows, doors and energy. I hear what the Minister and his Government colleagues are saying and that they empathise with people. We need to go out of here this week and assure the people of Mayo, Donegal, Sligo, Clare and Limerick that they are going to get 100% redress.

I am very proud to be from County Mayo and I am proud of the people who came here today. We are fighting back and it is the Government's responsibility to end this nightmare for those people. The Minister spoke about active consideration but that is not going to build any houses. It is not going to put to right the wrongs that have been done here. I ask the Minister to please not mince words. He must ask the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to come out and agree with the Deputies who have spoken here tonight. They should instruct the local authorities on the changes to be made to the scheme in order that these houses can be reinstated. It is not only the houses that are crumbling; it is people's lives. I have witnessed it. People's physical and mental health has deteriorated. What has happened here is not right. Did the people in 1916 die for citizens to be treated like this?

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