Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising what I know is a very serious matter. I have experience of this issue from working with colleagues in trying to respond to the huge stress and anxiety that I know has been caused to many homeowners in Deputy Crowe's county and in counties Donegal and Mayo because of the damage that was done to their homes due to the presence of pyrite.

The case at the moment is that the exemption criterion for accessing the local property tax exemption is that a home must be accepted into the defective concrete blocks grant scheme. I understand that the scheme at the moment only applies to homeowners in Donegal and Mayo and, therefore, because the scheme only applies to those counties, the families, constituents and homeowners on behalf of whom the Deputy is raising this issue would not be able to access this exemption. However, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is currently looking at the Government's broader response to the issue of pyrite. Part of that review will be the breadth of the defective concrete block grant scheme. I am going to raise with the Minister the issue the Deputy has raised here. I know the Deputy will press for his constituents to be included in this scheme and thereby be in a position to access the local property tax exemption. As he said, while the exemption from local property tax is but a small contribution to the challenges those homeowners have lived with for so long, it is nonetheless important for us to give it. It is important that we recognise that the properties affected by pyrite have been affected fundamentally and have not been a home in the way these families and homeowners would want.

The case at the moment is that a homeowner needs to be in the concrete block grant scheme to avail of this exemption. The question I will raise with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is what should be the breadth of that scheme and how it will feed into the Government response to this issue that I know the Deputy is concerned about and raising on behalf of his constituents.

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